A whole picture is worth a thousand words

Abstract

My security research, particularly into privacy, has meant effectively communicating my findings to a wide variety of people: from security experts to social scientists. I usually manage to bridge the discipline divides because my findings relate to real situations with relevant solutions. However, recently a security expert became agitated by my presentation because, as he argued, he'd been expecting me to talk about HCI not social issues. Quite worried by his relegating of HCI to only interface issues I suggested that, from my experience, identifying both successful and unsuccessful 'human computer interaction' often lies in the complexity of the whole picture. This article, therefore, highlights how, with regard to privacy, the whole picture is vital in system design.