Project: Open Design of Trusted Things (OpenDoTT)
Time frame: 2019-2022
Funder: European Union Horizon 2020
Role: 1 of 5 research fellows
About the Project
This is a joint academia-industry project between Northumbria University and Mozilla to explore how to build a more open, secure and trustworthy Internet of Things (IoT). The project was hosted at University of Dundee between July 2019 and May 2020, before transferring to Northumbria University.
About the Research (Co-designing with Communities for a Trustworthy IoT)
The increased availability of cheap, “do it yourself” (DIY) platforms places IoT within the realms of possibility for grassroots communities of makers and activists at a local scale. IoT technology today is discussed at a small scale for an individual or at a large scale for a city, yet there is a possibility for it to work in the spaces we share with other people in our small communities. The project explores possibilities for smaller-scale local IoT technology and how communities can be supported in making the best use of them.
Since 2019, I have focused on understanding the needs of users in a community fridge, which is a social space where residents can share surplus food in a bid to reduce food waste. I spent over one year conducting ethnography and working with participants at the Dundee West End Community Fridge in Scotland, in order to understand the community, their needs, and how IoT technologies can support their work. The process, which also involved 20+ interviews, yielded themes and concepts. In the second year, we once again worked with participants and selected one of the concepts was selected to be developed into a prototype, using open hardware (Arduino).
Crucial to the design is incorporating Mozilla’s Internet Health values, which explores what it means for the Internet to be healthy. For this project, we identified openness, digital inclusion, privacy and security, and decentralisation as key values in designing for a trustworthy IoT. For the final phase of the project, I am working with technical, policy and industry experts to explore issues around embedding trust, safety and integrity into IoT product design.
I follow a research-through-design approach and use ethnography, interviews, storyboards, videos and workshops to engage users.
Publications
Kiden, S., Strohmayer, A., and Yee, J. (2021). Before the tech bit: Observations on the Workings of a Scottish Community Fridge. ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP) 2022.
Please check back for more publications as the study is ongoing.
I have also published some blog posts that you can explore on this website.
Activities
Design Feminisms Research Group (DFRG)
Public Engagements
- Facilitator: A Zine for Sustainable Food Systems. Mozilla Festival (MozFest), Virtual, 2022
- Guest Speaker: Fraud and Identity Theft (BBC Money Daily, 09 June 2021
- The 3rd Carnegie Mellon University Open Science Symposium. Openness for Internet Policy and Building Equity.
- Speaker: Pecha Kucha Night Dundee Vol. 26 by Creative Dundee at the Dundee Rep. Feb 2020
- IoT for the Community by the Community. ThingsCon 2019, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2019
- Co-Facilitator: Feminist research for a healthy Internet? MozFest, London, 2019
Ethnographic Fieldwork
Developing concepts and storyboards
Exploring with prototypes
