Designing interactions for data obfuscation in IoT

Abstract: This project explores the internet of things (IoT) at home, especially the aspects related to the quantity and the quality of the of data collected by the smart devices and the violation of the users’ privacy this situation represents, since with the help of machine learning algorithms, these devices are capable of storing and analysing information related to the daily routine of each user at home. Therefore, this research enquires new ways to raise the user's’ awareness about the flow of the data within the IoT at home in order to empower them and give them back the status of administrators of this context by designing devices that are capable of obfuscating the data before it leaves the home.During this process, several methods were used together in order to reach the outcomes. From the use of annotated portfolios to evaluate the state of the art related with the field, to video sketching as a useful and quick tool to embrace the user’s perspective in parallel with the use of cultural probes in order to test some conceptual scenarios and find new ways to explore this project based on the experiences of the participants.As a result, this project’s outcome is based on the use of the materialization of the data as the proper way to bring the abstract process that happens in the background closer to the user's reality in order to display how this data is actually flowing through the environment and at the end generate a call­to­action to guide the user into the execution of the obfuscation of the data.This project opens up the discussion within the interaction design field about the way we are communicating with the technology and if it is the proper way to do it when this technology coexist with the user at home. Additionally, it questions the way in which the interfaces should be designed in order to create a transparent dialogue between the users, the objects and the vendors.