Data donation has received attention as a more consensual means of collecting personal data for scientific inquiry and AI technology. Yet the nature of data often donated–such as harmful online messages and menstrual tracking logs–carries risk of retraumatization (the forced reliving of traumatic experience). While the well-being of data donors is considered in prior work, approaches to retraumatization remain ad hoc. We present Trauma-Informed Data Donation (TIDD): a context-specific, exploratory design framework for adapting the Trauma-Informed Approach (TIA) from the Public Health domain to data donation. TIDD was the product of a 2-year research through design process with experts on sexual violence and trauma, and observational interviews of data donors. We use a case study applying TIDD to our custom data donation platform, Ube, as an invitation for designers to consider how TIDD could be used as a malleable foundation for donation of data associated with other forms of trauma.

Peer Reviewed

Data donation is a growing form of personal data collection that foregrounds consent and conscious participation of the data donor. There remains little guidance on who must consent to data donation, particularly when the data represents multiple people. We provide empirical perspectives on this question through in-situ observation and interviews (N=18) with online daters who chose to donate messaging interactions with potential sexual partners for sexual violence research. Findings elucidate two diverging perspectives. Participants advocating for ''unilateral consent'' argued that consent of their messaging partner is not necessary, in part, because the anticipated benefit of data donation superseded consent. Participants advocating for ''collective consent'' wanted both messaging partners to consent to its donation, citing concerns for privacy of, and personal relationships with, the other person. Findings suggest that collective consent interfaces should be incorporated in data donation platforms, even if not strictly required by legal regulation, to improve donation of multi-person data.

Despite the absence of consent being a defining quality of computer-mediated sexual harm, there is an absence of consent models that explicitly prescribe how consent to sexual activity should be asked for, given, and denied when mediated by technology. HCI literature has advocated for the adoption of affirmative consent (''yes means yes''); however, this model was created in 1991 without consideration for computers and has been historically underutilized. Through a speculative study of VR dating with 16 women and LGBTQIA+ stakeholders, we contribute archetypes of four new computer-mediated consent models for sexual activity. These include 1) visual consent through AR/VR rather than verbal dialogue, 2) agent-mediated consent where AI agents communicate consent on behalf of sexual partners, 3) a two-layer consent process called consent-to-stimulus, and 4) environmental consent where virtual environments scaffold behaviors that can(not) be consented to. We conclude by reflecting on which models could potentially supplant affirmative consent to better mitigate computer-mediated sexual violence and harassment. Content warning: This paper discusses forms of sexual violence including rape.

A majority of people experience trauma, spurring calls to incorporate trauma-informed approaches (TIA) from public health and social work into technology design. While technologies touted as trauma-informed are starting to propagate the literature, there persists a gap in knowledge around how design teams apply TIA and qualify their technology as adhering to trauma-informed principles. We address this through a 12-month development project with trauma and sexual violence experts to produce Ube, a data donation platform for collecting online dating sexual consent data to improve sexual risk detection AI. Through analysis of design documentation we retrospectively articulate a trauma-informed design process that evolved through the course of Ube’s development, comprising three elements for integrating trauma-informed principles: design goals that adapt the definition of TIA to the application domain, design activities that map to trauma-informed principles, and consequent design choices. We conclude with methodological recommendations to improve trauma-informed design processes.