Published on <a href="http://ift.tt/2tEMnxm">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Matias Ferrero <img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2tAgQvY">
<h3>Data is power, but for whom?</h3>
Big Data, business intelligence, analytics, digital footprint, … There are many terms and phrases we currently use as part of our vocabulary related to data and personal information. But do we understand what they imply? Are we aware of the reach that our data has? Are we in control of what and where it is flowing? And above all, do we as users of said services feel empowered and trust them with its use?
It is trivial to say that technology’s advancement is heavily driven by data. Digital services in particular are only as smart as the data they can draw from. Sometimes, these appear like black boxes and create a shadow of suspicion. How does it work? What am I giving away? Why? The users of those services need to understand and be able to manage what is happening with their data. Businesses need this data to keep flowing and rich enough to improve their offering in a world of <a href="http://ift.tt/1NuPZpx">Living Services</a>.
<blockquote>In a world of Living Services, businesses need to overcome these human fears to keep the data river rich and abundant.</blockquote>
On top of all of this, different organisms and groups, both public and private, look for ways to regulate and control the flow, use and misuse of data. Amongst them, the EU is probably one of the most active players in the field, with the upcoming implementation of the <a href="http://ift.tt/1krgNIr">General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).</a> This body is meant to address the concerns of privacy and control over data. Will all this be solved by a long legal document attached to each new service account? The adoption of this service standard can only be successful if it creates a win-win between people’s and business’s needs.
So, there is a clear tryptic. Businesses need data for profits, users need to share without and organisations need to regulate to accommodate both parties. The main issue is the way in which these efforts have been taking place so far: independently and decoupled from each other.
<h3>What if we would get together and try to make sense of it?</h3>
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<blockquote>“The challenge we are trying to solve, can’t be solved by any one group of people.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>Will Kemble-Clarkson, Senior Consultant at Ctrl Shift</blockquote>
Earlier this year, a first encounter took place in Berlin, in the form of a <a href="http://ift.tt/1q7ytd1">Design Jam</a>, where different perspectives where put into one room to try and think together on the matters of Trust, Transparency and Control. The gathered crowd aimed to have different perspectives to cover a broad spectrum of interests. I joined the Jam, alongside Fjordian Anastasia Masadi, <a href="http://ift.tt/1BUAFwq">Work Play Experience</a>, <a href="http://ift.tt/17DsfeA">Ctrl-Shift</a>, the <a href="http://ift.tt/LGT17r">University of Southampton</a>, The Financial Times, Adidas, Microsoft, University of Trento, the United Kingdom Cabinet Office, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership, and a delegation from the Privacy Bridges Project, and Facebook. The event was a 2-day workshop aimed at rethinking the way we deliver and help people understand and manage how their data is used. You can read more about this event <a href="http://ift.tt/2nroB29">here</a>.
<blockquote>Working with other disciplines helps broaden our own perspectives and achieve more holistic results.</blockquote>
As a first pilot, it proved to be a very successful event. It is also a great starting point. But it was not meant to be a one-off. In the words of <a href="https://twitter.com/danjhayden">Dan Hayden</a>, Data Strategist at Facebook and one the organizers: “the ultimate goal is to create a system in which design jams for trust, transparency, and control become common and frequent”.
<h3>Iterate and Test</h3>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2nroB29"><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2uyfRcE"></a>
<blockquote>“Privacy by design is a mindset and a methodology. It’s not something you can do once and move on. We have to be really focused on (…) how the human being interacts with the data.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>Stephen Deadman, Global Deputy Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook</blockquote>
Last week, the Jam for Trust, Transparency and Control took place for a second time. The agenda was adapted to a new 1-day format and put to the test. On this version, I joined students from Science Po Innovation Lab and École 42, Facebook, the University of Southampton, the CNIL, Projects by IF and Label Famille at Facebook’s Paris office.
In this new group, student projects confronted these important topics. How would one of the service ideas deal with the data they needed from the users, within the regulations but fulfilling their business needs? What would be the best pattern to present very specific consent requests that are necessary for a user to be able to use a service without forcing them to leave?
The format withstood the test and the results varied and ranged from creating a physical store experience for an existing video game to adding a dashboard layer to an application in order to provide users with control over the data being shared. All things considered, these future entrepreneurs worked around their own needs and their future users’ needs to come up with testable ideas to handle these topics around data.
It goes without saying that the roadmap for the Trust, Transparency and Control loosely organized group includes more gatherings, broadening the participants and the contexts, adjusting the format and generating a critical mass of attempts at solutions.
<h3>The role of the designer</h3>
<img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2tArwuB">
Design is often done by non-designers. Whether we like it or not, every member of an organization designs by making decisions and affects the experience customers have with a certain product or service. This also means that a service or a product should be approached with a designer’s mindset.
When different perspectives join, the act of working together, focused and with some kind of articulated outcome can be a real challenge. Designers have an innate capacity for navigating this storm and sailing the ship to port. As enablers and facilitators, our role becomes indispensable when tackling complex problems like this one.
<blockquote>Creating services that empower people and are transparent about their purpose creates trust.</blockquote>
In this particular case, designers can make a real impact and be involved in a global movement. Design Thinking stops being not just a buzzword, but a real enabler. Our expertise becomes a key factor in orchestrating these points of view and reach tangible attempts at solutions. We can have a real impact in a topic so transcendental and abstract.
<h3>The opportunities</h3>
<a href="http://ift.tt/2uydfeX"><img alt="" src="http://ift.tt/2tAgVQg"></a>
From a design perspective, this constellation of interested parties is a great chance to sit at the table and design something that will impact every aspect of our future lives. A topic that fits within our “a-ha” approach to design much more than the “wow”, a real problem that can be a real win.
<blockquote>We can co-create the patterns of the future instead of waiting for them to be imposed to us.</blockquote>
Today, the most profitable companies are based on manipulating data. In the not so distant future all business will rely on some form of data manipulation. Living Services are a reality. We need to keep the users at heart, and make sure that we get this right. If we don’t enable and empower them to manage and understand their data, if we don’t ensure they feel trust about how it is used, we are in for quite an ugly future.
By seating at the grown-ups table, designers can shape the future of how Trust, Transparency and Control over data is handled and regulated. We can shape the next phase of user centred data usage. We can co-create the patterns of the future instead of waiting for them to be imposed to us. And we can bring the user to the heart of it and empower her for the Living Services era. A future designed with all perspectives considered.
For more references on the format in use, check the <a href="http://ift.tt/1i1VZao">Global Service Jam</a> and my own <a href="http://ift.tt/2uydfeX">Jam Berlin</a>.
Many thanks to Sandra Fieber, <a href="http://ift.tt/2tAtACL">Tobi Kruse</a>, Mike Williams and John Fox for their feedback on my drafts.
From Berlin with ❤.
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<a href="http://ift.tt/2tACpMY">Co-creating the future paradigms for trust, transparency and control of data</a> was originally published in <a href="http://ift.tt/2cAqCpx">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Co-creating the future paradigms for trust, transparency and control of data

Data is power, but for whom?

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