21st Aug 2018
How might we...
...help people understand how their information is being processed and put then in control in a more human way?
Making data controls more human
Responsive controls and more human explanation and labelling can help people understand the consequences of sharing their information.
Product Context
Seed is a banking startup offering people a mobile wallet where they can collect various loyalty cards and coupons in one place. To do this effectively, Seed gathers data by monitoring people’s purchase history, location and displays recommendations based on people’s attitudes towards sharing data and their interest.
In order to provide the service, Seed stores some of the following data:
- Personal data, to create & verify a bank account
- A history of purchases, to assign them to the various loyalty cards
- A history of user’s locations to provide people with local offers
- An API is made available to 3rd party loyalty vendors so that they can discount services based on spending patterns and user’s locations
Problem & Opportunity
It is difficult for people to understand not only what data is being shared, but how that information is being processed and used. At the same time, different people are more inclined to share more information than others. How can we allow for people to choose how much they ‘care’ about sharing certain information to influence what is shared and with whom?
Design Features
Let people determine their comfort level when sharing their data
Using an easy to understand interaction pattern of a slider with human labelling such as 'precious' and 'relaxed' , people can define how much they care about sharing certain information. This allows them not only to turn sharing on and off, but also define the details. For example, a person could have their location tracked at all times, or only have it shared with 3rd parties only when they're close to one of their stores.
Based on people’s purchases, data sharing attitudes and interest, Seed app is then able to recommend coupons that fit their needs better. This makes people the initiators of data sharing, and lets them filter through coupons that fit their criteria and puts them in control of their consent requests.
Design Features
Show cause and effect of sharing data
When people open up a coupon, they get an intuitive understanding of which information is being shared and what it's used for. Here, as soon as they flick the switch, the description at the bottom of the screen reflects their choice in realtime, making it clear how information is being processed, used and what's the benefit.
Next steps
How might we build on Seed’s ideas to…
- Explore further how people’s data sharing attitude sliders might be developed further to give people even more control and understanding when they’re signing up for individual coupons
- Explore how people’s attitudes change over time and how that would be reflected in the app