How Not To Be Seen: Privacy and Security Considerations in the Design of Everyday Wearable Technology

Aim and scope of the study From 2017 to 2020, we conducted a research through design to address a number of identified obstacles to adoption of wearable computing. One obstacle was a perceived failure to design wearables for emotional engagement [1] [2] [3]. To address this, we began the inspiration phase with a participatory design process with an open-ended brief, instead of the typical approach of starting with a design exemplar. In this way, we elicited concepts from the participants to discover what kinds of everyday wearables they desired [4], rather than their preferences for some particular device type like an activity monitor [5]. The obstacles interrelate, and the outcome of our investigations against the obstacle of poor emotional engagement, give cause to reflect on another of the obstacles: privacy. This paper will reflect on the privacy issues evoked by our experience.