'Phone apps know a lot about you!': educating early adolescents about informational privacy through a phygital interactive book

Abstract

Children's usage of online services expands as they transition into adolescence. However, many are unaware or ill-equipped about how their informational privacy is compromised through continuous tracking and data collection online. This paper explores how to enable early adolescents be more aware of informational privacy online and make informed decisions, taking a research-through-design approach. Based on technology probes with adolescents, the four-stage framework was developed and a smartphone-embedded book was chosen as a medium for defamiliarization yet relatability. Through the iterative design and testing with early adolescents, we investigated the novelty of blended interaction between physical and digital, and the effectiveness of various narratives based on the four stage framework. We found the importance for privacy educational materials to incorporate multiple levels of information complexity and discuss how to achieve that.