User Agency Research Articles

Complex online harms and the smart home: A scoping review

Background:Technological advances in the smart home have created new opportunities for supporting digital citizens’ well-being and facilitating their empowerment but have enabled new types of complex online harms to develop. Recent statistics have indicated that ‘smart’ technology ownership increases yearly, driven by lower costs and increased accessibility. Research on smart homes has also grown, focusing on technology perspectives at the expense of a user-centric approach sensitive to the smart home’s harms, risks, and vulnerabilities. Objective:This scoping review addresses the information gap by underscoring the scope of literature that exists regarding complex online harms, vulnerabilities, and risks associated with smart home technologies and citizens’ agency. The goal is to understand the state of knowledge, gaps in the literature, and areas for future study. The importance and originality of this paper lie in its interdisciplinary review and approach. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a deeper understanding of complex online harms in the smart home. Design:Three online databases were utilised to identify papers published between 2017 and 2022, from which we selected 235 publications written in English that addressed harms, risks, vulnerabilities, and agency in the smart home context. This allowed us to map contemporary literature to reveal significant gaps in our understanding of the complex online harms affecting smart home users and identify opportunities for further research. Results:This review identified emerging themes of ‘risks’, ‘vulnerabilities’, and ‘harms’ in that order of frequency within the literature on smart homes. The usage of terms is skewed towards computing science and information security, which comprised the majority of the literature at 54.6%. Human–computer interaction papers contributed 24.4%, while social sciences accounted for 16.2%. Conclusion:Risks, harms and vulnerabilities within smart home ecosystems and IoTs are ongoing issues with complexities that necessitate research. Privacy, security, and well-being are key themes that embody the scope of complex harms affecting smart home devices in the broad literature. This review establishes disciplinary research gaps, especially in user-centred perspectives, due to a heavy technology focus in the existing literature. Therefore, further research is needed to address emergent risks, harms and vulnerabilities of smart home devices and understand how user agency and autonomy can complement the design, interface, and socio-technical aspects of smart home systems.

Reassembling #MeToo:Tracing the techno-affective agency of the feminist Instagram influencer

Political social media influencers are taking increasingly central and agenda-setting roles within contemporary media ecologies; however, little in-depth research has been conducted with regard to their agency and the practices of the specific agents involved. This article examines Scandinavian Instagram feminists’ practices and experiences in light of the #MeToo campaigns. Building on observations and interviews with feminist influencers whose followers exceed 10,000 each, the article seeks to contribute new insights about social media user agency, concentrating on some of the most powerful voices in digital activism. By regarding #MeToo an assemblage of various homogenous and shifting elements, the article highlights how feminist influencers in the Scandinavian context have taken positions as defining agents of feminism through employing Instagram’s user options for performing affective acts of labor. Though they do not utilize Instagram as a means for making money through advertising the way mainstream influencers do, nonprofit influencers such as microcelebrity feminists have large social media followings and are still arguably important players in the platform economy because of their significant reach and ability to influence political agendas.

Estimation of soil erosion using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in Relation to Landslides in Mid-hills of Nepal

An attempt has been made in this research to assess soil erosion and its spatial distribution by the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model at Rangun Khola Watershed, western Nepal. The erosion factors were acquired from multiple sources (Satellite images, ALOSPALSAR DEM, SOTER soil database, Esri 2020 land cover map, rainfall database of DHM) and an integrated analysis was carried out in raster format of GIS. A landslide inventory was generated on the basis of satellite images and past literature to validate soil erosion intensity in the area. The result map of the RUSLE model was categorized into six levels based on the erosion severity, and 9.06 % of the area was found to be under extremely severe soil erosion risk (> 80 ton ha”1year”1) indicating urgent consequences. The frequency ratios for each level of potential erosion susceptible to landside exhibited a linear relationship depicting reasonable and satisfactory level of agreement between the landslide event/location data and the erosion map that validates the model result. The result of this study will be helpful to detect the sensitive zones presenting a priority of protection and offer valuable information that aids decision-makers and user agencies in creating adequate conservation planning programs to stop soil erosion and maintain the natural balance.

The context of study abroad: affordances and constraints in the development of plurilingual identity

ABSTRACT This study examines study abroad as a context for plurilingual identity development in response to the critique of identity research in applied linguistics, which points to a bias that emphasises user agency and disregards the impact of structural elements. It is based on the analysis of the contextual constraints and affordances for developing plurilingual identity that SA students refer to in their narratives. The analysis shows that structure can be as important a component as agency and that students' representations of the SA context are linked to their pre-SA plurilingual experience and the portrayal of their plurilingual identity.

An amusing optical toy for the hands?: reassessing nineteenth-century British paper peepshows through embodied knowledge

ABSTRACT My article examines the structure of the nineteenth-century British paper peepshow and the experience of using it. Inspired by the agenda of media archaeology, I argue that an analysis of this medium that goes beyond excavating details of an obscured optical recreation can bring new insight into our understanding of peep media and nineteenth-century visual culture. By discussing the origin and circulation of the paper peepshow and detailing the clear distinction between it and media like the peepshow box and pop-up books, I detach the paper peepshow from the genealogy of these media while stressing the significance of its intermedial relationship with other nineteenth-century visual entertainments. I then adopt the notion of embodied knowledge to explore users’ engagement with this medium, drawing from personal handling experience in archives as well as theoretical conceptualisations. My article argues that peering into the paper peepshow should be understood as an act of creativity and imagination, and that the tactile played a crucial role in users’ interaction with this medium. This study thus fits well in debates about the embodied or multi-sensory vision in the nineteenth-century context, and functions as another example that affirms the active agency of users of visual recreations of this period. Overall, by analysing significant features of the paper peepshow and the experience of peeping into it, my research also constitutes a small but important expansion in the current understanding of peep media.

Effect of Specimen Fabrication Variables on the Measured Mechanical Properties of Asphalt Mixtures Tested in the Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT)

Abstract The scope of this research involves the evaluation of the effects of specimen preparation variables—mixing temperature, binder time at mixing temperature, mixer type, mixing time, loose mix conditioning temperature, loose mix conditioning depth, loose mix stirring, mold loading, placement in mold, additional time at compaction temperature before loading in mold, gyratory specimen height, and test specimen air voids—on tests such as the Dynamic Modulus and Flow Number conducted using the Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT). The initial testing program to evaluate the precision of the Dynamic Modulus and Flow Number tests (described in National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 702) indicated that “specimen fabrication is a major component of the between-laboratory variability” for both tests. The expected outcome of this study was that AMPT users—Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), state user agencies, and industry—understand the importance of proper specimen preparation and the effect of specimen preparation variables on the results obtained from the AMPT Dynamic Modulus and Flow Number tests. The use of AMPT Dynamic Modulus at 20°C is the most sensitive portion of the modulus-time curve and can provide a general idea of sample preparation impact on other mixture tests. This information comes at critical timing as the United States begins to implement performance-engineered mixture designs, balanced mixture designs, and performance-based pay factors. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations may be made regarding changes to specimen preparation procedures, which are expected to produce more reproducible test results.

IoT-enabled user agency for building sustainability

Buildings are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, and many organizations recognize that reducing commercial building-related emissions is crucial to achieving a carbon-neutral future. However, leveraging state-of-the-art building energy-efficiency techniques can be expensive and require installing new equipment, resulting in only a small percentage of energy-efficient commercial buildings. To address this challenge, our paper focuses on empowering building occupants to become informed change-makers that drive building efficiency through an IoT-based solution. By leveraging the data collected from low-cost sensors, we envision creating personalized dashboards and interventions for individuals, fostering energy transparency and empowering people to optimize their space usage while reducing emissions. Moreover, we can leverage human flexibility and flexible environments to further improve space usage and realize energy and emissions reduction opportunities. Thus, by enabling human-building interaction, our approach will be more effective in achieving the full potential of reducing energy and emissions in existing buildings.

A preliminary evaluation of Crisis Plus: a model for working with frequent users of psychiatric crisis and inpatient services

PurposeThere is a proportion of psychiatric service users whose needs are not met by existing models of care. This can lead to a reliance on acute and crisis services. These service users may be considered high intensity users (HIUs). The purpose of this research is to evaluate the Crisis Plus model, an intervention designed to better support HIUs in the community and reduce dependency on acute and crisis services.Design/methodology/approachForty-seven HIUs were involved in Crisis Plus. The core intervention of Crisis Plus was an Anticipatory Management Plan (AMP), produced in collaboration with service users, their families and their care coordinators. AMPs were shared with relevant services and attached to electronic patient notes to ensure a uniform, psychologically informed approach to care.FindingsHIU service use was compared pre and post-AMP. On average, number of inpatient admissions, number of days spent on the ward, accepted psychiatric liaison referrals and accepted home treatment team (HTT) referrals decreased significantly.Practical implicationsCrisis Plus has taken a collaborative, proactive approach to engage HIUs, their families and the services that care for them. Crisis interventions that emphasise collaborative working and service user agency are key.Originality/valueThe provision of dedicated psychological support to HIUs and their professional and personal network is crucial to reduce reliance on acute and crisis care. Crisis Plus is unique in that it instigates co-production and active consultation with HIUs and services to improve clinical outcomes, in addition to reducing NHS expenditure.

Infrastructures by the users for users: Motivations, constraints, and consequences of user-driven infrastructuring of mobile phones

Users adapt infrastructures materially to fit their needs, they engage in maintenance and repair, and they learn about the inner workings of infrastructures. Different degrees of user engagement with infrastructures are empirically analysed using the case of user-developed alternative mobile operating systems. Some observations of user agency made already in early studies of the appropriation of media and technology were found to be still relevant: moral considerations motivate users to engage in infrastructuring and users actively negotiate their infrastructural attachments. But ‘acting on’ infrastructures is also different from ‘acting on’ devices: the users’ experiments with infrastructures require redundancy and they are inherently collective. Moreover, certain designs of infrastructures can enable and demand user-driven infrastructures, while others block it.

User agency–based versus machine agency–based misinformation interventions: The effects of commenting and AI fact-checking labeling on attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccination

This study aimed to examine the effects of commenting on a Facebook misinformation post by comparing a user agency–based intervention and machine agency–based intervention in the form of artificial intelligence (AI) fact-checking labeling on attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccination. We found that both interventions were effective at promoting positive attitudes toward vaccination compared to the misinformation-only condition. However, the intervention effects manifested differently depending on participants’ residential locations, such that the commenting intervention emerged as a promising tool for suburban participants. The effectiveness of the AI fact-checking labeling intervention was pronounced for urban populations. Neither of the fact-checking interventions showed salient effects with the rural population. These findings suggest that although user agency- and machine agency–based interventions might have potential against misinformation, these interventions should be developed in a more sophisticated way to address the unequal effects among populations in different geographic locations.

Understanding the antecedents of privacy fatigue in facial recognition-based m-Gov services: An empirical study from China

Facial recognition technology has been adopted for the better delivery of m-government services, but the ease and frequency with which users' personal information is being accessed and misused have inevitably increased. This has recently triggered a new phenomenon of privacy fatigue in e-governance, which makes people feel powerless to protect their privacy. A comprehensive understanding of users' privacy fatigue is important, since negative user perceptions may lead to disengagement and the distrust of the government. Drawing on the Person-Environment fit theory and user agency perspective, this study examines the antecedents of privacy fatigue, manifested as emotional exhaustion and cynicism. A large-scale telephone survey allowed data to be collected from 3, 436 users of facial recognition-based m-Gov services in China. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) results reveal that: (1) privacy fatigue indeed occurs among the users of facial recognition-based m-Gov services in China; (2) the perceptions of privacy control is the core antecedent of users' privacy fatigue, which influences two dimension—emotional exhaustion and cynicism—in different directions; (3) the effectiveness of both privacy self-efficacy and government legislation positively influences perceived privacy control, while the effect of the effectiveness of privacy policies on it is insignificant. This study contributes to the research by empirically testing the notion and antecedents of privacy fatigue in the context of facial recognition-based m-Gov services, and provides a mechanism analysis with an overarching theoretical framework. In addition, the findings may generate new research avenues related to privacy fatigue under an AI-enabled government.

MACHINE OVER MIND? THE CLASH OF AGENCY IN SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENTS

Underlying many social media platforms are personalization engines designed to give people instant content and social recommendations to keep them engaged, yet understanding of their cognitive and behavioral impacts remains limited, particularly how user agency may be altered during interactions with these tools. In interviews and focus groups, a diverse sample of 45 participants offered their experiences with these tools where they reflected on how they responded and reacted to them, and how they felt they preserved their agency or had it eroded by the technology. Participants also reported several novel outcomes that occurred that they attributed to the tools, including falling down "rabbit holes" where time and conscious thinking appeared to dissolve -- outcomes they did not anticipate happening. Drawing from social cognitive theory, this dissertation advances an explanatory model that demonstrates the interactional dynamic between individuals and these choice recommendation engines, as well as identifies core agency, and related cognitive and behavioral, processes that appear to be activated during the interaction. As a practical contribution, this work demonstrates individuals can have the upper hand in these environments, so long as they have a clear understanding of the consequences of use of these tools. The model provides that guidance, building on past social cognitive work that sought to empower individuals to be free, non-constricted agents who can attain any realistic goal they desire, so long as they exercise their internal capacities to achieve it and have an awareness of the environments that may thwart it.

Accountability logics in disability service NPOs – Incorporating the role of service user advocacy in accountability and management control systems

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of non-profit organization (NPO) management control systems (MCS) and accountability in organizations providing support service for capacity constrained service users. Specifically, the paper examines the role of MCS and accountability in supporting mission realization in NPOs providing services to people with intellectual disabilities and reflects on this in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe research comprised a case study of four NPOs providing services to people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland conducted prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The study probed management's perceptions of stakeholders and examined the manner in which the design and use of MCS and accountability processes supported mission realization.FindingsService users were regarded as the least powerful stakeholder and consequently the least attended to in terms of MCS and accountability processes. The absence of relational and dialogical accountability with service users is not only central to maintaining this power asymmetry but also poses a threat to mission realization. These deficits can be addressed through the integration and monitoring of internal advocacy activities into MCS and accountability processes, which, on reflection, may also mitigate some of the negative consequences for service users of isolation from external support networks in times of crisis.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has opened up an area for enquiry – internal advocacy – heretofore not addressed in the management accounting literature, opening up a novel vein for future research. Such research could further examine the role of internal advocacy, drawing from and adding to the research in other support service domains. A number of objectives and questions might be considered: (1) probing the level of management recognition of the role of direct engagement in advocacy activities in supporting service user agency; (2) identifying with service users and management the nature and attributes of effective advocacy activities and practices; (3) questioning how such advocacy activities and practices might be reflected in MCS; (4) identifying what service user stakeholders regard as effective accountability to them in relation to their needs and objectives; and (5) assessing the impact on service user experience and on NPO mission realization of internal advocacy activities and the monitoring and review thereof through MCS. These suggestions for future research draw attention to aspects of support service delivery that have the potential to be profoundly influential on service outcomes.Practical implicationsA performance management model reflecting the identified need to incorporate internal advocacy mechanisms into organizational management control systems is proposed in an effort to increase accountability of NPOs to their core mission stakeholder – service users. This model may be of value to NPO management as they move from a medical-model of care to a rights-based model for service delivery in care settings.Social implicationsThe paper reflects the importance of listening to the voice of vulnerable service users in NPO care settings and proposes a mechanism for embedding internal advocacy in formal management control systems and accountability processes.Originality/valueIn proposing an “agency” supportive relational and dialogical accountability logic for such organizations, underpinned by “internal advocacy”, this research provides theoretical and practical insights for accountability processes and the design of MCS. The findings contribute empirically, not just to the NPO management and MCS literature but also to understanding the relational interaction of service users with service organizations, and what this means in supporting service user objectives and realization of organizational mission.

Corona Haikus

When I moved from linear documentary production to the newly emerging field of interactive storytelling in early 2000, I was excited by the potentialities of the Web, especially the possibility of co-creation in factual storytelling. Looking back, I can clearly see that what attracted me was the exploration of how factual narratives could make use of two unique affordances of digital media: user agency and interactivity. More than twenty years later, I am still experimenting with ways to use interactivity to facilitate co-creation of reality and move away from the representational tendency of linear documentaries (Gaudenzi 2013). In this paper, I will use the Corona Haikus project (2020) to question the current understanding of user agency in participatory interactive narratives. I have chosen such project because I have personally been involved in it as a co-author, but also as a participant, and therefore I have both co-designed its user’s agency, and experienced it as a user. I will argue that agency in interactive documentary (i-doc) should be considered as a space of user empowerment that does not always have to affect the interactive narrative itself, because it can also be placed outside of the narrated story. The Corona Haikus example will be used to demonstrate that, in participatory narratives, deep individual and societal impact can be designed by mixing different types of mini-agencies and by orchestrating them as a journey of empowerment that is gradual and evolutive. Reflexive and evolutive agencies will be defined and presented as new ways to approach impact design in interactive narratives.

Building an Integrity Model of Population Data Utilization Towards Integrated (SATU) Population Data

Utilization of population data for all purposes is a mandate of Law Number 23 of 2013 concerning Amendments to Law Number 13 of 2006 concerning Population Administration. The technical provisions as an elaboration of the mandate of the law related to the use of data are stated in the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 102 of 2019 concerning the Granting of Access Rights and Utilization of Population Data. This regulation regulates how the use of population data is utilized by user institutions engaged in public services to access data verification to the population database managed by the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Ditjen Dukcapil). This research is qualitative descriptive research. Primary and secondary data collection is carried out through the source at the Directorate General of Civil and Civil Registration related to the use of population data. Access to this data verification systemically by using the Population Identification Number (NIK) results in an "APPROPRIATE" or "NOT COMPATIBLE" response to population data thrown by the user agency. The more user institutions that utilize population data, the more it leads to the realization of one population data that encourages NIK as a Single Identity Number (SIN). The results of the research carried out show that there is an integrity model for the use of population data that is built in granting access rights to the use of the data. The integrity model is an integrated series in the process of utilizing population data that must be fulfilled, namely regarding the legitimacy of the institution, permits, institutional commitments, statements of absolute responsibility, statements of maintaining confidentiality, and monitoring and evaluation. By building the integrity model of the use of population data, the negative issue of misuse of population data is very easy to trace through digital traces. To strengthen the implementation of the integrity model of the use of population data, the development of the competence of human resources involved in every series of processes or stages in building the integrity model of the use of population data need to be done. This competency development also includes material regarding soft skills.

Understanding User Reliance on AI in Assisted Decision-Making

Proper calibration of human reliance on AI is fundamental to achieving complementary performance in AI-assisted human decision-making. Most previous works focused on assessing user reliance, and more broadly trust, retrospectively, through user perceptions and task-based measures. In this work, we explore the relationship between eye gaze and reliance under varying task difficulties and AI performance levels in a spatial reasoning task. Our results show a strong positive correlation between percent gaze duration on the AI suggestion and user AI task agreement, as well as user perceived reliance. Moreover, user agency is preserved particularly when the task is easy and when AI performance is low or inconsistent. Our results also reveal nuanced differences between reliance and trust. We discuss the potential of using eye gaze to gauge human reliance on AI in real-time, enabling adaptive AI assistance for optimal human-AI team performance.

Intimate Narratives: An Assets-Based Approach to Develop Holistic Perspectives of Student Mothers' Lives and Their Use of Technology in Parenting

This paper details our collaborative approach in capturing a holistic understanding of parental technology use through an assets-based framework. We steer the focus away from the design of technology as the central force of technological innovation, and instead support participants to reflect and describe intimate details that highlight specific use-contexts of technology in their lives. We leverage a group of foreign graduate student mothers' self-described unique strengths to gain an in-depth account of their lived experiences with technology. As research participants and co-authors, our collaborators elicit intimate narratives about meaningful events in their lives, bringing social and cultural aspects of their lived experience to the forefront, and thus providing broader context of their use of technology. We detail and reflect upon our approach of promoting user agency by creating an affinity group, fostering a safe and intimate space for research engagement, and describe the implications of using our adapted research methodology in intimate settings. We conclude by highlighting the various ways in which technology facilitates foreign student parenting, as well as the ways in which it serves as a temporary band-aid solution, prompting consideration of larger social issues.

‘People first’ responses to an externality

Professional service firms in the built environment are subject to externalities. Whether these forces are related to economic downturns, changes in the regulatory environment, natural disasters, trade wars, armed conflict, mass migration, hyperinflation, climate change, global pandemics, entropy, or even the never foreseen, firms must adapt, reposition, and rebound from negative events. The ability to adapt is best personified by the people that make up a firm. When one firm’s major commission was completely altered overnight due to the passing of major legislation that changed the mission and mandate of the agency that commissioned the work, the firm was nimble enough to pivot, make judgments about what scope could still be accomplished within the deadline, and determine who to assign the necessary tasks to get the job accomplished. The experience forced mentors to step up, mentees to step out of their comfort zones, the team to congeal under pressure, and resulted in an unmanageable deadline being met despite difficult odds and a myriad of factors beyond the firm’s control. Only mentorship, knowledge sharing, resilience, and dedication allowed a positive result for the firm, the client, the user agency, and those served by the institution. It also furthered the standing perception of the firm as the trusted advisor that finds a way. This case study in the mitigation of exogenous shocks through a ‘people first’ strategy will highlight potential A/E/C industry responses to similar events.

Localizing UX Advocacy and Accountability: Using Personas to Amplify User Agency

Purpose: This article documents ongoing UX research to develop a grant-funded mobile safety app for recreational boaters. The article presents a workflow for designers to align user advocacy with organizational accountability through the use of personas. Each year, numerous boating safety concerns and incidents go unreported. User research into this context shows that recreational boaters want a mobile app that helps them enjoy boating trips while remaining safe.<br/> Method: We reviewed best practices from literature, analyzed interviews with 141 stakeholders, and then discussed findings using personas to amplify user agency as part of a Lean UX workflow for the development of a mobile app that balances users' goals with organizational accountability.<br/> Results: Representative groups of boaters want features that help them with navigation, charting, and communication. These features would help alleviate pain points and enable goals having to do with not getting lost, avoiding hazards, and communicating trip progress to audiences onshore. In addition, the personas we have developed will help us communicate to the development team behind the app to explain how they can develop features that accommodate users' needs.<br/> Conclusion: Though personas are limited as to how well they represent actual users, if used properly within a design process they are a powerful tool for amplifying user agency so that resulting apps achieve user adoption. As part of a Lean UX workflow, personas are a useful tool in tailoring products and services to user needs while ensuring organizational accountability to those needs.

Examining the influence of amicus briefs and patents on information policymaking

This study traces a network of strategic power relations between a Google amicus curiae brief and patent to reveal how elite organizations influence information policymaking. The lens of actor-network theory is applied to the selected cases to trace the complex sociotechnical network of heterogeneous relations (Latour, 1993). A microanalysis reveals how information policymaking is influenced by persuasive information presented in amicus briefs and the technical disclosures described in patent claims of black box technologies (Collins, 2018; Frohmann, 1995). This study is part of a larger, mixed methods research project that analyzes over 4,000 geospatial technology patents to reveal the growing trend of inferred geospatial data production where artificial intelligence is leveraged, to demonstrate that constitutional protections for digital privacy rights must incorporate a privacy model that recognizes anonymous data production and not merely user agency to grant consent.
 Presently, information policy and data privacy laws are interpreted through a lens of inescapability (Tokson, 2020). This lens situates digital privacy rights within a fallible dichotomic premise that assumes clear, perpetual agency to grant or deny consent to access data. Moreover, the implications of Fourth Amendment rights are exemplified in geofence warrants—an investigative technique that searches location history to identify suspects in a geofenced region and time series in the absence of evidence. Geofence warrants have been utilized to conduct sweeping searches that collect user data of innocent people such as protesters, cyclists, and other passersby. This study offers the potential to improve policymaking to protect the rights of datafied citizens.