Designing Technology with User Values in Mind: Insights from Privacy and Robotic Telepresence Research

Technology designers must prioritize the values and needs of their users to create technology that is useful and relevant. Neglecting user values can lead to negative consequences such as privacy breaches, and technology rejection. In this talk, we explore the importance of user values in the design of technologies through two research studies. The first study examines the differences in privacy practices between privacy experts and laypersons, through the habitus theory lens. We provide recommendations for accounting for both groups in technology design practices. The second study examines the values enmeshed in the design and use of robotic telepresence in the context of the classroom, such as privacy, identity and courtesy. We discuss the affordances and limitations of telepresence robots in supporting these values, highlight informal articulation work done by the remote students and people around them to make the telepresence robots work, suggest formal articulation work and provide design recommendations to minimize the need for formal articulation work. Through these examples, we highlight the consequences of neglecting user values and provide insights into how designers can create useful and relevant technology that meets the needs of users.

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