jdaigleprocess-blog

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Process Reflection

In reflecting on how we I make improvements to the structure of the creative problem solving process, I believe ensuring I go about it both linearly and non-linearly is important to me. I worry that sometimes in the current structure someone can progress without iterating enough in the implementation phase. Further, inserting a peer review phase would be beneficial to build in a second hand opinion. The current process works both collaboratively and individually, and I see a peer review stage working beneficially for both as well. It was definitely more difficult to follow these seven stages as a group than it is on your own, however, but a peer review would be quite easy because it would be swapping group opinions. 

The seven stages: accept, analyze, define, ideate, select, implement, evaluate are all aspects of my current process in some way, but I feel that I need a greater emphases on the ideate and the implement phases, where many, many iterations take place. 

My individual approach to problem solving works much more sporadic and mixed up than this seven step process, but many of the stages overlap. I believe my work would benefit from following more structure, and in recognizing the values of these steps and the ability to mold them to fit my needs, I hope to implement a similarly structured process. 

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Conceptualize It!

Our Solution: Non Profit. Org advocating for attention to consumers’ privacy concerns, transparency in policy discussions, and education/training in new technologies for various segment groups. We want to get the community involved in the future of shaping the landscape of IoT. We are called Commun-IoT. Conceptualizations: Marketing Materials for a proposed event geared at roping Tech savvy adults into discussions about data privacy. This will help address the lack of assurance consumers have in being represented in policy discussions surrounding the devices in their homes and their privacy concerns, in order to promote transparency with tech companies and government, and inform/ educate the public, striving to service as a consumer advocate and facilitator. The marketing mockups are attached below and linked.  We also have an organization chart/ mind map illustrating the vast branches of the organization, which we hope to develop as multifaceted, reaching various consumer segments with various types of programming. Our hopes is that this organization works with the community to help shape the future of IoT privacy regulation, technological advancements, and consumer-driven iterations. 

Please view a summary of our programming and survey results, visit here.  For drive document of files: here. 

(gif animation of the IG ad appears not to load, view drive for full mockup, or view the thumbnail image below). 

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Process: Evaluation

We’ve made it to the solutions! It is so exciting to get to the end of the process, especially with completing the challenge of not jumping straight to the conclusion throughout the process. It’s awesome to see a solution so different than what we had imagined we would have come up with at the beginning, and I can definitely see how following the steps to the process in a linear yet iterative order informed the solution effectively. We would not have come to our solution of a non profit organization if we did not have to critically rethink about our problem definition and determine where we wanted to go, instead we would have an app today, which I believe did not effectively address our problem definition enough.

In moving into the reflective and evaluative steps of the creative problem solving process, we are left to decide on what evaluative techniques we will employ, in order to determine our level of success in a solution. I believe our solution is going to be gauged most effectively by surveying and soliciting feedback. It is rather open ended in that it is up to the user whether or not they would want to participate and benefit from such an organization, thus going to potential users and having them partake in a survey of sorts seems the most effective in determining if it will resonate. We have already done one survey in order to determine if people are uncomfortable or not with their data and large companies accessing it, so now seems like the next step where we survey users to determine their level of satisfaction with our solution. After, we can ask survey takers to leave us feedback as to why it did not resonate with them or address their privacy concerns (if that was the case).

Another way to gauge our success would be more metric driven, and perhaps creating a mock email and sending it out to a sample group, to then track click through rates to a sign up page in order to gauge whether people are going to sign up for possible workshops.

Ultimately, since the solution is hypothetical and presented through mockups and charts, I believe a survey would be the most effective at this stage of implementation.

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Group Business Canvas

For this weeks submission, there was a lot of debate. We had to rework our solution, and were torn between an open ecosystem for IoT devices or a non profit to advocate for consumers and help inform policy. 

I was a big supporter of the ecosystem concept as I had thought about it for a while, had seen Apple take steps to possibly be open to it (ie. last week’s announcement now allowing you to ask siri ‘ok google’ and have her connect you to your google home app ; or Microsoft selling Echo dots in their stores and pulling cortana). However, this concept is very technical and hard to envision since many believe the companies would never be open to it. In pivoting to the non profit, I am also exciting because I feel we can take the position of a relatable brand that has impactful campaigns (ie. RED, Got milk, etc.) and can establish ourselves as the experts and credible source for data privacy concerns, and a name consumers can rely on. I feel that while this concept is not exactly policy, it aligns with shaping policy while not abandoning some of the concepts that our group had wanted to include in our incentive portion of the assignment. I am eager to see where our implementation concludes and think we can get really creative with our problem statement surrounding privacy concerns. While organizations have tried to advocate for consumers regarding data privacy on the web, or even connecting IoT devices to make them more accessible, or to help envision IoT devices in the future of our cities, We haven’t found groups connecting the inherent privacy issues of the web with the data being produced in users homes through these IoT devices, and educating them on the power of that data. It is important for both to answer our problem statement and to come up with the most unique event hosting possibilities for our organization to stay true to privacy concerns and misconceptions. 

Attached please find the business canvas explaining our concept and solution plan. We will be visually navigating through this concept through a pitch deck, and  mockup representations of us participating in events, as well as a a possible website, and some data visualization. 

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Process Journal: Implementation

In reflecting on how we plan to communicate our solution, we have definitely come to a conclusion that a pitch deck will be the most effective. Our non profit will take months, if not years to establish, not to mention the years following that will be needed to build up credibility to actually act on our goals. A pitch deck will be able to communicate what our objective is, what the problem was, why our solution is needed, what our reach can be, what our organization’s goals are, how it will take action, how it will advocate for consumers, etc.

We have not come to a conclusion on what other visual representation will be needed. However, I find it crucial that we supply various others. I believe digital mockup representations will be the most effective, where we can depict the organization participating at events (trade shows, conventions, etc.), what an initial web experience would be like, and purpose a faux media article or collaboration with reputable industry leader. We are unable to implement the solution into actualization where it could benefit consumers starting the day we present, but instead, we can take our classmates and stakeholders on a journey allowing them to visualize what the solution would be like if we had the time and resources.

Further, I believe we should put together a data visualization of some data surrounding our reasons for going with this solution. I have created a survey to send out to colleagues to get some feedback about their comfortability with IoT device companies. I hope we can utilize it in our visual representation of our solution. Another visual reference that could be beneficial is a flow chart, where we walk our stakeholders through the flow of our proposed organizational structure.  Ultimately, which visual route we end up going with will need to be discussed as a group, and ideally, we will execute a couple of them in unison creating a comprehensive representation of our solution. 

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Group: Selection

As I have detailed in my individual process journal for this week, my group was lucky in that we saw a clear cut integration of 3 solutions into one final idea that we are happy with moving forward. This idea is an “An app integrated into all smart phones: when you first open the app and asks for permissions, it does an additional layer of opting in, later sends push notifications when a user’s data is being shared, and further educating you as to why you should opt out/ turn off data sharing with certain services. It would gives you control and access to change your settings/usage at any point and control how much access a company has. 

- Reveals how companies are using your data - Warns and educates users of risks related to data use - Allows for flexibility of use and of what data is being shared - An app that integrates into every other app - Based on knowledge of use and access Reasons: Prevalence- Proximity (frequent use)- Our Backgrounds- Increasing risks and uses

The criteria used to select our solution was a priority ranking, where we categorized our preferences, an open floor, where we advocated for a specific solution and its connection to our background or interests, and then a bit of back and forth, with a final integration of 3 concepts into one. While the decision didn’t take much argument, it was hard to really pinpoint the one we were going to roll with because we felt like we were striking out good ideas, and possibly limiting ourselves. We had some logistical concerns as well as to what we were capable fo exploring in the remainder of our class, and also what we truly had interest in exploring further. We each seemed to gravitate towards the app idea, with myself interested on a design and brand identity standpoint, but concerned it could be just another app. I was pleased with our ultimate decision to incorporate all of our solutions, because while that would not work in all cases, it works well with a data-privacy related app service.  Additionally, I felt our solution encompasses each of our backgrounds quite nicely and will allow us each to delve in further.  We worry that good solutions were nixed in the process, but have to remember that that is all part of this process we are undergoing. While it is frustrating seeing good ideas go, it’s important to remember that the solution must be grounded in what is best for the problem definition, not just something cool related to Internet of Things. 

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Process Journal: Selection

For our selection of our final solution selection came together relatively seamlessly and with not too much compromise in terms of what we each wanted. Last week, we left off with 3 different solution options that came out of our ideation prompts and how might we brainstorming. The three solutions came from our brainstorming list, but I was not in class to finalize the selection choices with my teammates. They chose their top three (one solution per how might we question) and shared a doc with me to allow me to advocate for any other solutions or explain my reasoning (if a solution came out of my ideation). I was happy with our collaboration this week as I felt we really harnessed remote work well: we met for about an hour via zoom to finalize a selection based on where we were each leaning in preference. Luckily, when we came together to meet and decide on the final solution idea, we had our options in front of us, ranked in order of feasibility and preference.

While I would say our solution came together rather seamlessly and without much argument or debate, it was still an incredibly challenging and somewhat frustrating experience because of how selective we had to become. Similarly, since I was not in the class breakout sessions, I had to give my opinions without any foresight as to where my team was leaning, which was kind of intimidating and felt like a shot in the dark. However, it really actually worked out well because my perspective wasn’t too informed by others’ preferences. The most challenging thing for me was to choose solutions that were most feasible and Made the most sense for our group: there were plenty that were great solutions but maybe not feasible at this time, or maybe didn’t fit our problem definition accurately enough and were instead taking on a different problem.

In our zoom meeting, we were able to look at our ranked solutions and decide how we wanted to proceed. A couple of us then discussed our reasonings for leaning towards one solution or another, with Jenean sharing some insight from her tech essentials course, where an industry expert came in and discussed privacy and security in relation to Interns of Things. She shared with us some questions she asked that added some clarity to our solution choices. We found ourselves then at a bit of a grid lock, not being able to proceed in narrowing down our solutions further. Myself and another teammate were leaning towards a phone app solution, but did not want to leave it at just an app, as it felt too standard. Instead, some fo our other solutions were a layered opt in method and push notifications informing when a users data has been shared by a third party. Johnnie proposed we use all three ideas and make an app that serves as an educational element while also integrating across all smart phones and giving access to data sharing and handling. From there, I suggested we use some of  the info coming from the industry expert that detailed a necessity for reverse hacking and various diagnostics that could be put in place to identify all of the problem areas an IoT device has, and incorporate this into the educational aspect of our app. The space where we ran into a bit of compromise was in deciding if we wanted to hash out any of our other ideas or stick to the four questions we had narrowed down and revisit their extensive lists of solutions.  Ultimately, we decided on sticking with what we had widdled down, so as to not linger in the same discussions we had already had previously. After shooting a couple ideas back and forth we landed on:  An app integrated into all smart phones: when you first open the app and asks for permissions, it does an additional layer of opting in, later sends push notifications when a user’s data is being shared, and further educating you as to why you should opt out/ turn off data sharing with certain services. It would gives you control and access to change your settings/usage at any point and control how much access a company has. 

- Reveals how companies are using your data- Warns and educates users of risks related to data use - Allows for flexibility of use and of what data is being shared- An app that integrates into every other app- Based on knowledge of use and accessReasons:- Prevalence- Proximity (frequent use)- Our Backgrounds- Increasing risks and uses

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Process Journal: ideation

In our group brainstorming sessions, we chose to partake in the brainstorming remotely and debrief collectively on our findings via chat. What we found was that there were some overarching categories all of our findings, solutions and ideation prompts fit into. These categories were governmental regulation, awareness of data practices, restricting access to data, and opening data privacy up to not be so private. We had a many promising solutions come out of our brainstorming, but noticed a thread that some of our good ideas did not resonate with Internet of Things directly, and were more related to just purely data security. This turned to one of our main discussion points because we have to work through how we can stay true to IoT while still opening our minds passed the big solutions. Some fruitful solutions that resonated with me was API integration, proximity was a reason for greater risk, intranets for data storage, and a mobile app teaching about data sharing. I feel as though these ideas themselves can be hashed out a bit more, but they all leave me with an exciting outlook for where our project will head.

One of the biggest struggles in this brainstorming exercise for me was the fact that we were all remote. To me, a lot of the excitement around brainstorming comes with the sticky notes, sharpies, people getting excited to write their idea on the board, etc. whereas a digital brainstorming session didn’t appear to yield the multitude of results that sticky notes do. Similarly, often times you feed off of the excitement around you, so when brainstorming on your own, you cannot bounce ideas off each other as easily. While multiple of us were on the google doc live editing together, I felt timid in piggybacking too much off of anyone’s idea, when in fact you can get some really good results from that typically. All in all, it was beneficial to work into everyone’s busy schedules as remote and especially with us each living in different cities or areas, however, I would say that I prefer in person brainstorming as my usual method.

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Group Brainstorming and Debriefing

For our brainstorming session, we followed a very similar approach as to what we did in the class brainstorming activity. We revisited our list of 1 how might we questions, and as a group highlighted which of these we found most interesting or fruitful. From there, we each committed to remotely brainstorming for 15 minutes on each of the highlighted ideation prompts, and then another 15 minutes reflecting and giving feedback on the results once they were all in. We used google docs and slack as our main communication and brainstorming platforms- where we could begin live editing on the google doc while multiple of us were on the same document. We were able to hash out our thoughts after both in the google doc and through slack, where we shared our main concerns, or judgements, about the brainstorming results. Next, we went back in and reorganized our thoughts into a more categorical visual display. I found this ideation exercise exciting to come up with as many ideas as possible, and also a bit challenging. I found myself trying to go over the time limit or still pondering questions after I had already moved on. One thing that was kinda funny and weird during my reflection stage of this step, was that I said outloud in my apartment ‘why are phones more dangerous with data security than my google home ? Is it proximity?’ To which my google home responds ‘yes’ from the corner of my room. Perhaps she was brainstorming with me!

In reflecting on the exercise a day or two after completion, I am kind of caught up in the idea that some of the solutions posed strayed away from the ideation prompt. I found myself in this problem a few times, where I would come up with as many possible distribution ideas but then none of those would actually relate to Internet of Things. One take away is how vital it is to keep the prompt in front of us at all times during this process, so as to be constantly reminded. My favorite idea out of these so far is the mobile app that’s a personal assistant/ teacher to IoT and data security. Another is finding a way to parcel data created from IoT devices (let’s say google home alarm sleep schedule, or stating that you have run out of milk, to then have those voice commands integrated with mobile apps to automatically send milk your way, to analyze your sleep cycle in the health app, etc.) In essence, this idea is to integrate voice recognition, on demand delivery and convenience services, and smart phone interfaces to make our smart devices incredible more smart.

Below you can find a transcript of our ideation brainstorming session:

IoT Core definition:

as we ideate to have a macro view of topic we chose considering privacy/security issues

An IoT device is distinguished by being identified as a "Physical Object" ( not a person ) embedded with "Network Connectivity" (sensors, electronics) that enables "Data Exchange" (collection of information, data transfer & storage). Categories for the devices can include Consumer, Commercial, Industrial and Infrastructure and they are developed to make access to information ( via a wearable or Smart Home device) more convenient and readily accessible.

How might individuals gain access to their data:

JSON FILES

Color maps *

Emojis

Different type of data visualizations **

Based on pop culture

Based on your Soc

2 step verification

Maybe have to go to the town center every city has one to become a smart city **

Thumb print scanner

Based on your dna (insert a drop of blood) **

Housed in your amazon account

Data must be able to be digestible by smartphones

Government provided smartphones

Data libraries

Phone app that comes with smart phones with data access - *** Jenean

API

Self scanners at grocery stores *

ATMs

Making everything open-source

everytime a piece of data is produced, it is uploaded onto a public server

Treat data like puzzle pieces

reimagine data as a collective unit rather than individually focused

World atlas or like database of every individual’s data… registered into database with a device’s first use of internet.. Collective storing after

Legal protection.. Companies must distribute to each customer unless opted out *

Regulation of data access

Unlocking said data through fingerprints or eyescans

Everyone should be able to request to download their data

Cameras on devices

Notifications if you are sharing an alarming amount of data *

Piggybacking… notifications for each time data is shared with another company/user

A service that can delete your data across multiple devices

An app that helps you manage how and where you share your data **

Access to the data

We were looking at it from 2 different ways to have companies/governments to allow access to the data that they were using in their companies.  And then on the other side of the spectrum

Looking into opting out of information but in a layer by layer that type of situation

Making it as digestible as possible. Imagine if privacy policies, or credit card statements, or mortgages where in a digestible format.

transparency/public

Pushing for an informed opinion

*Ooh guys just thought of an interesting example….  my current renters insurance is an app that is named maya and she tells me all the legal stuff of my policy in a texting format and i respond like ‘ tell me more’ and she explains in greater detail - Jaime *

Very Interesting ~Jenean    

^^Love this, I could’ve definitely used Maya during my move out process lol (Johnnie)

Control our tracking settings on our devices

VPN

In private browsing/incognito

Restrict purchasing of user data

Notify users of their data being sold

Data exchange database

Increased encryption standards

Distributed file systems

Use Data receipts (public key cryptography)

Automatically delete data

Reapproaching cloud storage

Removing data collection

Scheduled data releases

Api integration

Application interfacing with what you say

Parce all the data into segments for Specific uses (connecting voice commands with mobile apps, order triggers, safety resources, scheduling and productivity apps) and distribute the segments separately like Blockchain… no one resource has access to entirety

Treat data like iTunes library/ App Store

scheduled data clearings

Data expiration and permanent deletions across all that have access

Lack of interface on IoT device could lead to something being hacked and you don’t know*

Distributing data through new or different media than the standard

Creating new file types that are locked to specific devices

DNA based

Physical record of data

Combining encryption with messaging platforms

Various servers for specific users and have them be checked out

Updated hardware to turn commercial grade into consumer grade

Intranets of various types of data

Using computer vision to move away from source code

Getting rid of the code

How can we have these devices be digital but not survive on code (to avoid hacking)

Each device creating its own coding language so no other computer could read it

Have the device man all the data usage

Jumbling up code after each data production

Provide examples of how companies are using their data to sell them different products

Requiring hover messages over everything that you click that states this gives companies this information about you

Showing the implications of actions like (this page would like to track your location), or saying that if you allow uber to track you when you are not on the app then they will use this to raise rates on your area

Letting users know when different data streams are commingled into information that is being used

How to implement web trackers into your handheld devices(there are different chrome extensions that show what type of cookies are tracking you and what type of data they are transmitting. Why isn’t something like that for mobile)

Push notifications on distribution

Incorporating transparency of data distribution in voice/messaging

Amber alert like messages when a breach occurs

Visualization of where data is housed, where its been sent/who has access (pie chart like slice)

Eguides about data sharing

Data encryption education

A website teaching users about what type of data companies are collecting and teaching how to opt out

Data-use fireside talks sponsored by companies big in data analytics

Hack-Athons put on by common mobile app companies

Infographic videos walking through use of specific data

Taking data use like a narrative journey… comic book stories of the journey, magic school bus

*why were phone books ok but sharing your other info scares people*

Sending transactional emails with each distribution

Transparent reporting of breaches

Phones carry more personal data than any other device

Once we download an apd we should have to double opt in to sharing data. Meaning once they ask uber wants to share your location  and then they ask are you sure uber can now do XYZ click confirm to share this data

How do we fight robo callers/ robo texters

It is soo easy to click on a phishing link on your phone versus any other IOT device

We need to be able to protect ourselves from public wifi problems

Can almost always locate a person by their cell phone

Browsers are set to normal browsing… private mode not always accessible

Phones are a main device for communication

If not on wifi, they are consistently connected to cellular network..exposure

Proximity*

Because of phone logs

oversight

Traceable

Most mobile apps are connected to internet/ cellular connection

You have to give your phone number away for so many signups

Same with email, which many have connected to their phone

Frequent reminders that an app is using specific information… you have been sharing your location with ____ for 2 weeks. Would you like to continue sharing your location?

How might the government regulate the collection of data from IOT technology?

How might we use blockchain  for better data privacy

How might Smart cities utilize bluetooth/wifi/QR/etc. to collect data more securely

How might the government become more strategic in their leadership on how to use IoT

funding to modernize IT infrastructure to enable IoT projects

How might we leverage the advance of sensor technology make data more safe

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Group Definition and Brainstorm Post

The problem with Internet of Things technology is that it exposes users to the risk of the misuse of their data for financial gain or exploitation.

__________________________________________________________

In my previous post, I listed off some of our groups possible problem definitions as well as the brainstorming we underwent to arrive at our final problem. After last class’ discussion, our group decided to pinpoint danger as the main area of focus for our problem definitions. We identified a treat across our morphological analysis where we saw the dangers surrounding each application were still rather similar. Additionally, we concluded that danger was the area we were each most interested in, because it is an ever growing category that affects us all, in either a individual or societal level.

For our problem, we also identified that we wanted to focus on consumer goods, because while we found smart cities and other areas incredibly interesting, we felt our scope would be greatest informed by the area we each have most access to.

We assigned ourselves the task of coming to our Monday group meeting with 5 possible problem definitions each, and then we shared these amongst the group, allowing for comments and feedback. What we found was that many of our problem definitions were incredibly similar. Key similarities surrounded consumer focus, privacy, security, manipulation, exploitation, uncomfortability, and the unknown dangers. We gathered all of this feedback into a google doc and decided we’d take another day to individually reflect on the content that came out of our discussion. After coming together on Monday, we decided to leave comments across the doc, employ various exercises from the asynchronous work to further define our problem. One exercise I really enjoyed was to read my group members contributions and try to consolidate those all into a couple problem definitions that were concise. I did this by using the highlighting method from the asynchronous work, where I wrote out a lengthy problem encompassing various characteristics, highlighted the key key statements, and rewrote them out in 3 clear and succinct problems. You can see a bit of this in my previous post, but the highlights and strikethroughs do not carry over from google docs.

After arriving at these three problem definitions, we compared again with the rest of the groups findings and ultimately settled on a final definition. ___________________________

my individual problem definition’s prior to discussing as a group:

People are uncomfortable with their data being housed in servers that are not full-proof secured from hacking.

Our data is at risk of privacy intrusion by large corporations and services, which could lead to discrimination and bias.

Internet of Things is in its early stages of adoption, and therefore there is a lacking in regulation and standard practice to protect the data it utilizes.

Hackers are constantly developing new mechanisms to break into secure systems, jeopardizing trust in the Internet of Things products

IoT products are at risk of cyber threats, which can impact users at both an individual and societal scale.

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Process Journal: Definition

In coming to our problem definition, our group employed various execises from the asynchronous material to pinpoint a problem, including the exercise of writing out a longwinded problem, highlighting the key points, and rewriting statements in a more concise format. Additionally, we broke out individually to list of as many problems that we could think of as possible, and then came back as a group and did a casual vote on which problems stuck out to us the most. Further, to even begin any of this, we looked at our morphological analysis and uncovered a trend, that the danger column yielded similar fears across all applications. This initial discovery led us to pinpointing danger, specifically surrounding either privacy or security, as our area of focus. 

We met as a group earlier on in the week over zoom to hash out some of our findings once we came to this conclusion. In this meeting, we each advocated for our various interests, and ultimately underwent another individualized brainstorming session following the group meeting. This time, we each wrote out all of our concerns surrounding the main characteristics we discussed, including, data security, risk, manipulation, privacy concerns, mass destruction, consumer deceit, etc. This time, our brainstorming was live on the google doc we were each contributing to, so that we could comment on each other’s thoughts and respond back to them. 

What was the greatest challenge was deciding whether we wanted to go super specific, ie. stalking, spying, manipulating Internet of Things devices in consumers’ homes, or more broad, ie. that users are at risk of having their data exploited for financial, personal, or malicious gain. 

_______ 

Here is some of the brainstorming from our google doc, where we navigated through our interests surrounding the problem. 

- Consumer-based

- Uneasy-ness of use

- Iot is convenient at what cost?

- Capture how we feel- the benefits

- Moving from Divergent to Convergent

Problems with it:

Lack of access

Little to no law

Misuse

Concerns

Data is not safe

Possible Problem Statements:

People are uncomfortable with their data being housed in servers that are not full-proof secured from hacking.

Our data is at risk of privacy intrusion by large corporations and services, which could lead to discrimination and bias.

Internet of Things is in its early stages of adoption, and therefore there is a lacking in regulation and standard practice to protect the data it utilizes.

Hackers are constantly developing new mechanisms to break into secure systems, jeopardizing trust in the Internet of Things products

IoT products are at risk of cyber threats, which can impact users at both an individual and societal scale.

Consumers are uneasy with their data being up there, however they understand the benefits of it being out-there, so there should be some sort of entity that easies consumer’s feelings of uneasiness with interacting with internet of things technology

We understand the benefits of IoT technology, but there are concerns about how our information and data is being collected by tech companies.

I am concerned with IOT because I understand the power of data  is ever increasing quicker than the laws that governs it. It scares me knowing that these large amounts of data can be collected  and misused by

To Opt in or Not to Opt in, that is the question. ( although it is supposed to be declarative )

- Ethics

Problem Statement: 

- IOT products are marketed as devices that solve a range of problems for users. For example, a smart home device makes it easier to monitor your home while away, smart watches provide health benefits that allow you to monitor your activity level through the day, and smart cameras capture the best moments of your life with minimal effort.

- Though most IOT products are still in their early stages of development and are still mostly being used by early adapters, there is a growing concern around the security and privacy of the data that fuels the efficiency of these products. It appears that though consumers are benefitting from these products, there is an inherent cost that has not been fully examined on either the consumer or business side.

Notes from asynchronous: Convergent Activity

- Clearer the problem, the more accurate the solution

- CLEAR LANGUAGE KEY TO ARTICULATE SOLUTION MOST EFFECTIVELY

- Who is influenced/most impacted by this problem?

“Reflect on the methods and techniques that your group used to define the problem and summarize those activities in a new post in your process journal.. How did you come to a consensus on what characteristics of the problem needs to be addressed?”

Need to identify the characteristics we are focusing on

Possible Problem Statements: Highlight and StrikeThrough method from asynchronous material

Initial: Internet of Things technology connects our world and drives greater convenience, however it also exposes its users to a plethora or privacy and security threats.

These threats include misuse of data for financial gain or exploitation, where companies or individuals who have access to our data can utilize it to their own agenda, especially if it is unaware to the users themselves. Those collecting said data have access to the IoT devices, which means they could possibly manipulate those devices to record, enact, alert, or in some other way, interfere with the users’ life without their permission or knowledge. This is a privacy risk that needs attention. Similarly, while some regulation exists requiring warnings of the use of data, the laws are falling far behind the speed of adoption of internet of things products, exposing users to risk. This is a security risk, because users may not be protected from either individual or societal threat imposed upon them. Finally, another threat is that those holding access to the data may choose to sell or share that data to unauthorized viewers.

three problems here: must decide with group on one of these or of another one addressed above to clearly pinpoint a specific problem

Succint Re-tries:

misuse of data for financial gain or exploitation:

The problem with Internet of Things technology is that it exposes users to the risk of the misuse of their data for financial gain or exploitation. Agree

Manipulation of device functionality without knowledge of user:

Internet of Things consumers are at risk of having their devices’ functionalities manipulated without their knowledge, opening doors to a multitude of threats, including but not limited to, stalking, blackmail, surveillance, and bias.

Regulation and speed of adoption are not synced and the gap is growing greater

While the possibilities surrounding Internet of Things technology are increasing at a rapid acceleration, the lack of standard regulation exposes users to dangers related to the vulnerability of their data, where its uses are still being discovered.

Our real challenge or focus is the safety of data of consumer devices within the realm of the Internet of Things. Our main objective is to uncover the level of safety that exists and we really want to accomplish this by using SMART goals and measuring the level of exposure or risk that users of consumer products are subjected to mainly because IoT devices are created for convenience and we want to know the tradeoff ultimately leveraged. One example of how we might see how safe one user experience is will be by tallying the number of intrusive events ( calls from blocked numbers & spam email messages ) that are a direct result of tracking an IoT wearable that has been activated within a 30 day period. ________________ this brainstorming session following our meeting provided a lot of fruitful information, and we ultimate decided upon voting between the first two problem statements above, The problem with Internet of Things technology is that it exposes users to the risk of the misuse of their data for financial gain or exploitation, and Internet of Things consumers are at risk of having their devices’ functionalities manipulated without their knowledge, opening doors to a multitude of threats, including but not limited to, stalking, blackmail, surveillance, and bias.

Check out the problem definition post to see what we ultimately settled on! 

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Conjunction Junction

My parent’s cat is 16 years old and a happy cat. He has white fur and has grey spots, one covering his entire left eye and ear. He is large for his age and has soft fur.

My parent’s cat is 16 years old, but still a happy cat. He is white but has grey spots, one covering the upper left side of his face. He is large for his age, but his fur is very soft.

My apartment is in Downtown Los Angeles and is around three miles from USC’s campus. It is in an old Gas Company office building and has some of the old infrastructure highlighted. It is bright and a studio layout.

My apartment is in Downtown Los Angeles but is around three miles from USC’s campus. It is in an old Gas Company office building, but has some of the old infrastructure highlighted. It is a studio layout, but it is very bright.

My favorite chair is midnight blue and has four gold-colored legs attached at the bottom. It has a velvet texture and look, and is soft to touch. The chair has no arms, leans back a little, and is in the midcentury style.

My favorite chair is midnight blue, but it has four gold-colored legs attached at the bottom. It has a velvet texture, but it is soft to touch. The chair has no arms, but it is designed in the midcentury style. It leans back slightly.

The main print on my wall is 18” x 24” and has a white frame. It is a white background and has a black line drawn all over the space, crossing over itself. There is white spaces between the line-crossings and the spaces have simple drawings in them.

The main print on my wall is 18” x 24”, but has a white frame that is slightly larger. It displays a white background, but a black line is drawn taking up a lot of the space, crossing over itself. There is white spaces showing between the line-crossings, but the spaces have simple drawings in them.

My desk is wood, white, and has a glass surface top. It is structured like a hollow pentagram and has a white shelf under the glass holding desk supplies. It is simple and organized.

My desk is wood, but has a white shelf holding desk supplies under a glass surface top. It is structured like a hollow pentagram, but it is very sturdy. It is simple but well-organized.

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Process Journal: Analysis

This week focused around analysis, where we gathered as much information surrounding the Internet of Things as possible. Through this, we hope to arrive at a problem we each are interested in. Through engaging in creating a morphological analysis sheet, I found various insights that may inform our problem. For start, one of them is that Internet of Things is still in its infancy, and as a result has not really been subject to reform or standard practice yet. As a result, we will see a lot of change in the coming years. Additionally, another insight I uncovered is that while data security is deemed a key problem surrounding the Internet of Things today, new problems will be introduced that we have not even thought of yet. As a result, design of Internet of Things products and services must be informed by the unknown. Most of my research came from the internet, specifically from specialist sites or technology-specific websites. I read a lot to understand and gain a better grasp of what Internet of Things fully encompasses before beginning to research its applications in our societies. I felt I had a basic understanding of the concept previously, and now can better articulate the umbrella that it is. 

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Morphological Analysis

After researching on our own and as a group the Internet of Things, we structured the key areas of our research in to the morphological analysis chart found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16j8ZkNMumrdk8tIcj3o8ccrFhCangczEHz2VNAaocTE/edit#gid=0

I am interested in the future of IoT, where reform will take place in its regard, where we can improve security, how it can better connect our global world, how cities and governments can implement it to enhance daily life, and what steps are being taken to better security and overall experience. 

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Contingency Management:

We spent some time individually reflecting on our contingencies, and shared our results with the group to comment on each others’ and ensure we were on the same page. We plan to revisit this document and list when we find ourselves needing it. 

Consequences: Will be reflected in our grade and in the amount of work we have to do at the last minute. I also believe we should begin with the end in mind and backward plan so we can anticipate the deliverable at each step to minimize negative consequences.   

Time: finding time to meet on each of our schedules and time zones, especially with a team member on the East Coast.

Communication Method: deciding on communication tool: Zoom, Slack, Team Google Drive, Email etc. Currently discussing via slack but will continue to solidify our communication plan. 

Deadlines: setting deadlines in order to meet them on time and anticipate ahead of time, plan based on everyones varying schedules to not put anyone in a bind. 

Scope: so many different areas to turn to, nailing down specific problem and sticking to it and defining Technology to include the aspects we are most dedicated to. We are leaning towards smart cities nad internet of things, with dependency being an area of interest. 

Individual capabilities: time management, graphic design, excitement, stem background , non profit experience, 

Group capabilities: creating something amazing!! .. more to come

Abilities: I (Jaime) have a design background; The group seemed to have creative/music/ entertainment inclined interests… Assess who is adept at presenting and look ahead to see what format the final deliverable is supposed to be in so we can fill in gaps. Jenean has a business, engineering and entertainment background along with some non-profit leadership experience. Johnnie comes from digital background as well, and Jasmine in entertainment. 

Intentions: meeting deadlines on time, dedicating to the project, creating something awesome, learning something new .. more to come Also need to find out if this project will actually get be integrated into any of our professional goals because that will determine how committed we are.

Incentives: successfully completing project; should all celebrate in some way, plan a celebration.  

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Destination and the journey!

Our group members took a second to evaluate our topic on our own, and then shared our thoughts in a document to be able to revisit it. We were torn between many interesting subject matters, specifically media consumption or technology. Ultimately, we decided on technology, with a focus on The Internet of things and smart cities. 

Here are the results on our individual thoughts: 

Jaime: Our subject matter is focused on Technology with a focus on the Internet of Things (possible, using as filler now). I am excited to be on this team, with each of us bringing different interests and backgrounds to the table. I hope to contribute with my design background and focus in branding. Further, I have an interest in combining design and technology, and am eager for the creative ideas we will come up with. Aside from design, I can contribute to research and brainstorming, as well as a group organizer to schedule meetings, take notes, etc., if we need someone to do so. I am open to whatever our group dynamic needs, and can switch hats if necessary. As Jenean mentioned, My biggest expense is also time, as it will be difficult to plan across each of our different schedules and time zones, and good communication will be vital. Super excited to work with you all!

Jenean: We have a problem to solve regarding Technology including the Internet of Things ( VR, AR, AI & Smart Cities)  and dependency. I will contribute to the team as a researcher since I have a background in engineering, a passion for STEaM and look forward to exploring innovative technologies. My greatest expense is time, however, I will be able to meet as a group using a variety of mediums and believe that good communication is key!

Johnnie: internet of things technology is a very new technology that provides a host of benefits as well as challenges. My interest in this subject matter varies from security, ethics and applications. I have experience with data manipulation and fancy myself as someone who stays up to date with new tech. I believe that I am someone who always sees the big picture and keep the goals in mind. Most importantly my biggest strength is my flexibility. I can wear many hats in a group and fill any role that needs to be filled(tech, design, organization, etc.).

[jdaigleprocess-blog]

Process Journal 1: Acceptance

Accomplishing this goal will be exciting as it is our first project in a full semester course in the program! I am eager to work with our team and come up with something awesome. Best case scenario, our project has a cohesive narrative, vision, brand identity, and style, and it resonates with our problem surrounding Technology (dependency, Internet of Things, Smart Cities)  effectively. Those benefiting from this success will be my group, as well as anyone in the cohort with similar interests that might find a fascination in our project. Further, our success may also lead to those outside our program benefiting, who knows! Hopefully we will come up with great ideas that will benefit our communities and future urban planning. I do not see a monetary award at this stage in the process, but view successfully and innovatively working out the problem as  the greatest reward. This project can serve as a portfolio piece for me and my group members, so I am eager to produce something unique, exciting, and well-rounded between technology, function, and design that I can speak to enhancing my current body of work.

I am interested in this problem because I have a passion for Urban Planning and designing cities of the future, but have not had an opportunity to work on the topic. I have always been interested in smart technology, but do not come from a tech background. Therefore, I am excited to have a first hand opportunity to dive in and explore it. The creative problem solving process we navigated during the residential was an awesome opportunity to tackle a problem as a team, so that initial success inspires me to go through the process again.