Privacy or the lack of it?!

Maria Bobkova Leave a comment

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Privacy and mass surveillance are one of the biggest issues that have emerged (RIFON, N. J., LaROSE, R. and CHOI, S. M. , 2005), with the rise of densely connected digital world and specifically social media platforms gathering personal data with user’s own consent.

The balance between state surveillance for safety and personal privacy is a tricky mission to accomplish: studies show that public opinion splits into those who agree that it is ok to collect data for national security and others highly disagree. There is a strong debate going on about what is appropriate in terms of interfering with personal data environment.

Video 1. Wiretaps, data dumps and zero days: is digital privacy no longer possible?

Zero-day vulnerability is another big issue, that is why we take our testing and deployment very seriously. That said, there are always risks associated with any digital product: software engineers are humans and cannot foresee all the gaps in the code, so hackers might be successful in finding the backdoor even in the best of products.

Also, we realise that consumers attitude towards privacy on the web can be controversial, whereas Privacy fundamentalists are roughly 25% of the represented sample with the rest being deliberately neglectful or ignorant of the way their data is being used by online services (P. Kumaraguru and L. F. Cranor, 2005). Millenials (our target audience) deliberately trade off their personal data to build up their digital identity and gain some value in return. They have not as much concern about disclosing their information as with having a chance to control that disclosure with certain privacy settings.

Nevertheless, we believe that privacy in the modern age is the essential public good which has to be protected no matter how difficult and technically challenging that is.

Prevention and Transparency

There are two ways that privacy issue can be dealt with: Prevention of personal data being available to third parties and Transparency of how data is being used. As we have talked in previous posts, in terms of transparency we are determined to protect personal data under current legislation and also provide clear consent forms to our users stating in simple terms what will be done to their data (analogy with Creative Commons human-readable layer of the license agreement). We will respond to government data requests similarly to Facebook and will provide transparent statistics for any user to look up.

As for the Prevention, we will use end-to-end encryption models for the messages being transmitted through our app. We will try to overcome the issue of offline messages being reassigned with another key which gives a loophole for hacking. Our team will not pronounce it as a feature of the app like in Whatsapp case, but we will treat it as a bug which needs a fix.

By transparency and data protection policy combined with straightforward agenda, we provide the context for our users to consider and make a weighted decision regarding their personal data sharing.

References:

P. Kumaraguru and L. F. Cranor. Privacy indexes: A Survey of Westin’s Studies. Technical report, Institute for Software Research International, Carnegie Mellon University, December 2005

RIFON, N. J., LaROSE, R. and CHOI, S. M. (2005), Your Privacy Is Sealed: Effects of Web Privacy Seals on Trust and Personal Disclosures. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39: 339–362. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2005.00018.x

Graph Theory applied to the Social Network

Rachel Hamilton Leave a comment

NaviGap travel app is designed to facilitate interactions between networks of students travelling on their gap year and can be predicted and analysed using the mathematical language of graph theory in order conceptualise it in more abstract terms by representing individuals within the network as nodes and the relationship or connection between users as links (Barabasi 2002).

Screen Shot 2017-05-02 at 10.56.18

 

ALBERT-LÁSZLÓ BARABÁSI

A number of graph theory metrics can be utilised in analysis of the social network, for example, Degree centrality which measure the number of links (connections) into/out of the node (user) which gives an indication of the users’ influence and popularity by measuring node connectedness. Those users with more connections have a higher centrality and therefore can reach more people.

Users of NaviGap as they make use of the functionality, would be grouped together by their connections which would help to facilitate strong clustering between travelling companions and/or regular information seekers and providers.

An effect observed by Kossinets & Watts (2006), found that a shared focus (i.e. a community of travellers with a shared goal/ location) gives more opportunity for the formation of strong social connections or strong ties between people which results in increased levels of social capital. This can be defined in terms of frequency of interactions between pairs of users, reciprocity of communication,  and the interaction type.  We believe that fostering strong clustering will benefit users in providing more relevant information and in building traveling companion relationships making the travel experience more rewarding and potentially safer. This may be of value to socially / geographically isolated students that wish to embark on a gap year.

 

References:

Barabasi, A. L. L. (2002). The New Science of Networks. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, S95-S120.

Kossinets, G., & Watts, D. J. (2006). Empirical analysis of an evolving social network. science, 311(5757), 88-90.

How Might We Build User Trust?

amy Leave a comment

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As has been shown through many studies from psychology, sociology and through to philosophy, trust takes many forms but is mainly developed through the building of social relationships. Trust is therefore a huge factor when creating a social network related app and making sure individuals feel comfortable when using it.

In order to encourage users to download our app instead of many others, building trust through using a myriad of tools is important, without trust in an app there is no foundation and there is also no drive to download and to keep using an app. There needs to be some ‘proof’ that the app works, does it do what it says it is going to do and what others think it will do. Users need this added protection and reassurance that what they believe is good is actually good, as people are naturally interested in their own welfare.

The use of a social network platform for information searching and for finding travel companions must consider the emotion and behaviour associated with trust. Lewis and Weigert discuss trust as a social reality, a unitary social experience combining cognitive, emotional and behavioural facets. A Social network relies on relationships between people and trust is attributable to relationships with and between social groups such as friends, communities and organisations, therefore the need for trust arises from our interdependence with others, in a social network such as this users depend on others to help them obtain their outcomes. Rousseau defines trust as a “psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intentions or behaviors of another” users of the app have interests with other users that are intertwined, creating an element of risk, therefore trust is very valuable in a social network as it is associated with cooperation, information sharing, and problem solving; key features of NaviGap.

All factors must be taken in to consideration in building trust in a social web environment, these include policy-based trust, provenance-based trust and reputation-based trust. In terms of the social network NaviGap, a combination of approaches to trust need to be taken:

1.Policy-Based Trust – This approach provides security to users accessing services via signed/trusted certification authorities to verify credentials and access. Within NaviGap, we provide a privacy Policy which a formal legal agreement for protecting users information and data, that if broken can lead to prosecution. Secondly, we utilise security protocols such as public key encryption system and HTTPS protocol.

2.Provenance-Based Trust – NaviGap will employ a provenence based trust system in terms of allowing users to assess the trustworthiness of the content posted based on the history of its generation and propagation. This will mean users will have transaparancy of  who created and edited information and who reccomended and/or shared it.

3.Reputation-Based Trust – This approach establishes trust based on personal experience of users. NaviGap incorporates user ranking functionality related to their posts and recommendations, the higher the ranking of a user, the more trusted they can be provide accurate and appropriate information. It also possible for users to flag inappropriate behaviour and/or users.

Though all are important in their own right, this post will mainly be focused on reputation based trust. In order to fully gain reputation-based trust an app will need to have a reputation, it is important to build up a positive reputation in order to successfully advertise, market and then progress the app.

Some factors to consider when gaining trust from users = competence, integrity and ability.

In order to show this the app will have to be tested and critiqued. Negative reviews are not great, but they can be just as important as positive reviews if handled correctly. The way app creators deal with their negative reviews show a lot about how well they can be trusted and indeed their integrity. This will help to side-step any negative influence if it is used as critique.

 

Practical Steps

  1. Reviews




It is important for NaviGap to get app store reviews which will help to build up user confidence in the app and what we are portraying to the public. This is imperative to a new app such as ours and can really help boost our profile in the app market.

 

  1. NaviGap Logo and “About us”

 

Having a Logo will ensure that NaviGap will appear professional and trustworthy and help to show that we take ourselves and our app seriously. Also when we connect through any other app  such as Hotmail or Facebook, it is important to ensure that this is mentioned in order to also show creditworthiness through bigger and trustworthy sites.

Also it is important to be transparent with users and to show who JAMR is and why we created the app to also convey that we are credible and our not ‘faceless.’




  1. Credentials and statistics.

 

Show any credentials we have and that we are certified in areas, which will help to build trust and reliance. Also important to showcase any user surveys results and our user statistics to show that we are open with our users and that we our proud of our users and how many we have gained in a short amount of time. Can also include followers on any social networking site we gather.

 

  1. Advertisements 

Ensuring that we are well known and build up a good user base, to show potential users that others believe in our products and create social interaction and attention.

 

  1. Making sure that Legal and other Policy issues are up to date.

Ensuring user protection is paramount to ensuring trust and being open and clear about what our obligations are and how we will protect our current and potential users.

 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/himanshu-sareen/7-ways-to-build-an-app-th_b_7025536.html

 

Moreau. The foundations for provenance on the web. Foundations and Trends in Web Science (2009)

 

Fogg, B. J. and Tseng, H. (1999). The elements of computer credibility. In ACM CHI ’99, pg 80–87, New York, NY, USA.

 

Rousseau et al. Not so different after all: a cross-discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review (1998) vol. 23 pp. 393-404

 

Rotter, J. B. 1967. A new scale for the measurement of inter- personal trust. Journal of Personality. 35; 615-665

 

Berg and Dickhaut. Trust, reciprocity, and social history. Games and Economic Behavior (1995) vol. 10 (1) pp. 122-142

Lewis and Weigert. Trust as a social reality. Social Forces (1984) vol. 63 pp. 967-985

User Surveys

Rachel Hamilton Leave a comment

JAMR distributed an online survey in order to collect information from potential app users in regards to their needs and preferences.

Following ERGO ethics committee authorisation, the platform Survey Monkey was implemented to set up an online survey with a variety of nine multiple choice, sliding scale or open ended questions.

The survey URL was emailed out to the student population of the University of Southampton who fall into the user profile demographics of our design.

The responses were analysed and are discussed below.

 

Question 1. Your Age.

survey Q1

Data suggests that interested users of this app are within the age category of 18-20 (36.36%) and 21-23 (40.91%) with some users aged 24-25 (22.73%).

This matches our predicted demographic of users and aim to market the App at the 18-25 age range, focusing on University students.

 

 

Question 2. Your current level of education.

survey Q2

Data suggests that interested users of this app are currently studying or are about to commence study at degree level.

This supports our intention to market the app at University students.

 

 

 

Question 3. Do you have any travel experience before you started university degree?

survey Q3

Data suggests that majority of interested users of this app have some travel experience (61.9%) with almost one third of users having a lot of experience.

This data has justified our responses have come from users with experience that can better suggest travel app solutions and those who are more likely to use the app itself.

 

 

Question 4. When do you use the internet when searching for travel inspiration?
survey Q4

Data suggests that interested users of this app search for travel inspiration in the weeks prior to travel and during travel (86.36%).

 

 

 

 

Question 5. During travel.
Survey Q5a

Data suggests that interested users of this app mainly use online public searching platforms such as google and bing (77.2%) whilst travelling, or social networking sites such as facebook (54.55%).

The ‘Other’ response was Twitter.

This suggests that there are no travel specific social networking platforms currently being used.

 

Survey Q5b

 

 

 

 

 

Question 6. What online platforms(s) do you use for travel socialising and sharing?

survey Q6

Data suggests that interested users of this app rely on facebook (77.27%) and TripAdvisor (45.45%) social networking platforms for travel based information sharing.

This suggests that there are no travel specific social networking platforms currently being used.

 

 

survey Q6b

 

 

 

 

Question 7. How often do you use mobile apps?

survey Q7

Data suggests that interested users of this app are keen users of mobile devices for information seeking, either solely user a mobile smart phone (40.91%) or using one at least daily (40.91%).

This data supports our decision to focus development of our app for the mobile smart phone market initially.

 

 

 

Question 8. Why do you choose the internet to help you pick travel destinations?

survey Q8

Data suggests that interested users of this app use the internet to help choose travel destinations because it is convenient (72.73%) or that they don’t need to rely on other sources (36.36%).

This supports our decision to focus development of our app for the mobile smart phone market initially.

 

 

 

 

Question 9. Further suggestions.
survey Q9Four of the respondents that were interested users of this app have suggested:

Offline functionality. Which will will include with downloadable maps and guides.

Find a buddy – Tinder style function. Which we will include with the connection feature.

Area specific things to do. Which we will include on our downloadable maps.

Anonymous users. This is not something we plan to include, since the social networking aspect relies on users being visible in order to connect.

Mockups and Prototypes

Maria Bobkova Leave a comment

App product teams need mockups to present their vision and views of the final product and that is why here, in NaviGap, we use top tools to present best UI solutions.

In this post, we will present our mobile screen mockups to show the basic functions of our outlined scope.

Why prototype

No secret, that there is no perfect User Interface which will be explicit, intuitive and efficient for all users. However, close to perfect is possible and achievable with countless efforts, many hours of work and constant improvement. Thinking and interacting with your app just like your user is the key. A prototype is not a final product, it is the field for improvement and work. It starts with simple sketches and gets augmented by adding features, links, interactions, design improvements on its way to perfection. Prototypes allow prototypes allow us to test the feasibility and usability of our designs before we actually begin writing code. They allow to actually test and play with various user interactions scenarios.

Imagine

Sketching an app helps to ‘feel’ the actual thing and maximise ideas if only on the paper. Various techniques from pencil sketches to post-it notes dashboard can be used. We used a simple sketch to get the whole picture and then moved to available prototype tools to implement click-throughs interaction.

mock

Figure 1. A sketch of what we wanted

Click-Throughs

Then, we used JustinMind software to build our prototype and show our user interactions with it.

Here is the basic interaction map:

Picture1

Figure 2. Interaction map

Figures 3-6 show the initial set of Navigap screens simulated on iOS. Interactions are listed according to user action and marked with blue circles.

   Picture2

Figure 3. ‘Main_screen_feed’. Main screen with latest expert feed

Interactions:

4 on Click:   goes to ‘Q&A_with_experts’ with effect: pop

5 on Toggle:   goes to ‘Location_on_map’

6 on Click:   goes to ‘Expert_story’

7 on Click:   goes to ‘Expert_story’

8 on Toggle:   goes to ‘Location_on_map’

9 on Click:   goes to ‘Q&A_with_experts’ with effect: pop

Picture4

Figure 4. Q&A_with_experts. Interaction with expert users

Interactions:

2 on Click:   goes to ‘Main_screen_feed’

 

Picture5

Figure 5. Expert_story. Extended travel story of an expert user

Interactions:

1 on Click:   goes to ‘Main_screen_feed’

Picture3

Figure 5. Location_on_map. Extended map of chosen destination

Interactions:

1 on Click:   goes to ‘Main_screen_feed’

The interactive simulation can be accessed via the link: https://www.justinmind.com/usernote/tests/25458829/25462335/25465092/index.html

Final thoughts

We understand that our highest priority is the user and making their experience pleasant and fun in lines with our goals is a challenge. However, using different approaches, tools and techniques to reach the ultimate App prototype is something we take seriously within our team.

Mobile App Research

amy Leave a comment

 

waving man

 

Mobile apps access a lot of data and are now thought to be integral to many individual’s daily life. They are thought of as an asset or an extension to daily life and can hold a lot of data about individuals, such as location data in travel apps, that can be used to enhance user experience and to customize it.

How it affects us

The first social network appeared in 1997 (Boyd and Ellison, 2007) and since then they have grown exponentially . As our app will also be a social network, the aim is to build trust and ensue the usability of the ap, ensuring the best user service. Online personas are a big factor, anything that can be done to enhance this persona is something to be valued. Our app will enhance the online persona of the  individual, by tailoring it to the specifications and persona of the individual and to ensure it is not a generic user experience. (Harper, 2014)

Apps are now integral to online life but they also enhance an individual’s offline life. This growing app world provides users with vast amounts of information but also to dedicated services, (Kugler, 2016). It has revolutionized ways to communicate, share and create (Harper, 2014) this is why the use of travel apps has grown and the need for them has increased.*

As this CNN article points out, mobile apps are used by many as a substitute for their computer, therefore they wish for everything to be as easy and accessible as it would be on their computer.

Article:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/20/business/travel-apps/

So what does this mean for our app?

There are always opportunities on the App market, but to truly harness this, ideas must be unique, original and created with users in mind. Apps may one day be the main force of the Web, a connection between online and offline life. Travel company’s and developers are harnessing this potential and understanding that is the next direction for travel if they wish to excel against competitors and be a force in the market (Morley, 2014). This is great news for us as we are able to take our unique idea and user this growth in the market for our benefit.

App’s not only provide content and services, but they break down barriers between users, and provide for a more tailored approach to marketing and advertising. (Richard and Harper, ) Technology is seen as a way to inform and engage and to also bring other closer together. (Dalstrom et al ,2013) The difficulty in developing apps is there isn’t a ‘standardized platform,’ (Heitkotter et al, 2013), therefore in order to be able to ensure saleability the use of advertising and sponsors is integral and to also ensure the freedom for our users when using the app and to not stifle progression in continual development.

hit the nail on the head

Evolving Technology and Saleability 

In order to maximize the benefit of the app market, there needs to be a saleable idea that can be translated through to potential users. Even if the app starts off as being free, in order make money from it it has to appeal to as many users as possible. Society is also susceptible to influence, so the more people who like and recommend the app the more likely it is to transcend past a few users and to reach a target market, (Cheng et al, 2017).

 

In fact many would say that a main draw to using smart phones is the ability to access so many things in app form (Morley, 2014). This efficiency is important and is why travel apps in particular do so well, developers know that people want to travel around, and as easily and stress free as possible. This then paves the way for more and more travel related apps to make sure people travelling have little to nothing to worry about (Molloy, 2013). Apps available free of charge or for a nominal amount mean that they can access a wider audience andare more readily used. (Morley, 2014) .The app market is very versatile and with the use of revenue from marketing and advertising and sponsors, free apps are more and more common.

Also the good thing about app development is that it is constantly evolving and changing to meet new demands, trends and technology, (Kugler, 2016). Also more than ever with this increased development, even if an app is on the same creative lines as another app there is still enough room in the market, people like trying different apps and also are susceptible to the newest app that comes in to the app store (Briz-Ponce et al, 2016). This means that with constant development it is the older apps that must appeal to their users in order to retain them, to keep up with the evolving technology and create new things, (Chen et al, 2017).

What the app offers is also important, to have a diverse range of options is important, whilst also sticking to what the function of the app is. An app can deal with simple daily tasks or more specific needs, such as travel apps. If there is enough need in the market this can set app developers apart. Knowing what functions the app will have is important as it will ensure a direction for the app, but also continually think of new ways to develop the app is also important to retain user interest (Molloy, 2013).

As highlighted by a recent article (EBSCO, 2017**) mobile apps have been valuable to the UK’s economy and the market grew by 0.9% in 2016 and is only set to continue with an increase of 46.6% 5 years. This predicted rise is due to the growth in the market that has been shown and its continued use and the still growing need for apps. New phones are released even more often than they were before and apps have to keep up to date with the new features on smart phones. This is true for all app developers from big companies to individual developers. This rivalry pushes even more creation and innovation and helps to facilitate growth (Molloy, 2013).

References:

Boyd, d. m. and Ellison, N. B. (2007), Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13: 210–230

Briz-Ponce, L, Juanes-Méndez, J, García-Peñalvo, F, (2016) Book of Research on Mobile Devices and Applications in Higher Education, IGI Global Books.

 

Chen, Q, Zhang, M, & Zhao, X (2017), ‘Analysing customer behaviour in mobile app usage’, Industrial Management & Data Systems, 117, 2, pp. 425-438, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 29 March 2017.

 

Dinsmore, J, Swani, K, & Dugan, R, (2017,) ‘To ‘Free’ or Not to ‘Free’: Trait Predictors of Mobile App Purchasing Tendencies’, Psychology & Marketing, 34, 2, pp. 227-244, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 29 March 2017.

 

Heitkotter, H, Hanschke, S, and Majchrzak, T, (2013) Evaluating Cross-Platform Development Approaches for Mobile Applications, Available at: http://www3.nd.edu/~cpoellab/teaching/cse40814/crossplatform.pdf

 

Harper, R. (2014), Trust, Computing, and Society, Cambridge University Press.

 

Keengwee, J, (2013) Pedagogical Applications and Social Effects of Mobile Technology Integration, IGI Global Books

 

Kugler, L, (2016), ‘Smartphone Apps for Social Good’, Communications Of The ACM, 59, 8, pp. 18-20, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 29 March 2017.

 

Molloy, S, (2013), Appvertising – How Apps Are Changing The World, Amazon Digital Services.

 

Morley, D, (2014) Engrossed in social life. Understanding Computers in a Changing Society, 6th Edition, Course Technology.

 

**Why pay for apps And ‘Mobile Apps in the United Kingdom’ (2016,) Mobile Apps Industry Profile: United Kingdom, pp. 1-39, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 29 March 2017.

 

*http://www.nbcnews.com/video/travel-apps-that-will-save-you-money-on-the-road-719410755787

Agile versus Waterfall

Maria Bobkova Leave a comment

        main-qimg-58816439e3c075a5b8bebbba6131cf5b-c

Figure 1. How Projects Really Work

In this post, we would like to discuss how we envision our development process philosophy and which approach we plan to use. As can be seen in Fig.1, the vision of a project is not always the same (completely different) to its final release. Thus, it is very important to choose the appropriate development strategy and stick to it during the project’s lifecycle to deliver the best solutions.

Different approaches

In the case of web development process, there are generally two approaches: waterfall and agile. What are the main differences between them?

  • Waterfall process is when each part of the project is done sequentially by a team member and passed along the assembly line after the part is finished.
  • Agile process is a simultaneous working approach when each member of a team contributes to the project in the same time frame.

In short, here is a simple explanation of both:

 Video 1. Workflows: Agile vs. Waterfall

After considering the pros and cons of given approaches, we chose the agile model for the following reasons:

  • Short iterations (time frames) of development work mean fast delivery and constant up-to-date with current issues. Our product is for young and innovative people and we need fast solutions for emerging problems, and small increments of work provide convenient development pace for our product.
  • Our small team has representatives from all stakeholders, so conducting Scrum meetings would be an efficient collaborative process where interests from each side are not neglected.
  • Feedback is prompt and corresponds with each iteration directly.

Q. How does it work on a daily basis?

A. Scrum Power!

Video 2. Short explanation how Scrums work

We will be using the Scrum Agile methodology as it has proved to be effective and applicable to various project types.

Basically, each of our sprints (a specialized term for iterations) will consist of several steps:

  1. A product owner  –> creates –> a to-do list with noted priorities which is a product backlog.
  2. The team –>takes–> a small piece of that to-do list from the top, and discusses implementation.
  3. Our sprints –>last–> 3 to 4 weeks to complete that piece.
  4. Meanwhile, the team—> has –> daily scrum meetings to discuss and assess the progress of work to be done.
  5. The ScrumMaster —>is–> the master brain behind those organised scrum meetings. They keep the team aligned and focused on the goals.
  6. Each sprint —>ends —> with a deliverable product, thus showing an achieved goal to a stakeholder.
  7. A sprint review and retrospective —> complete the cycle of each sprint and maximise the feedback effect in order to improve a next sprint delivery.
  8. A new chunk of backlog is taken into work and the iteration cycle starts from Step 1.

 

In our vision, Scrum is a flexible and efficient web project management framework which enables the team to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the arising issues. Scrum’s holistic nature minimizes marginal risks and allows our App product to adapt to changes just in the right time.