Mental health chatbots are AI chatbots that aim to mimic human conversations about how a user feels, help a user work through issues they are facing, suggest wellness exercises to complete, and help track a user’s mood over time. We compare the information disclosure practices and security and privacy concerns of adopters and non-adopters of mental health chatbots. We conducted a survey with 180 participants (30 adopters, 150 non-adopters), collecting data about what information they would hypothetically disclose to mental health chatbots, and concerns they had related to chatbots. We found that compared to non-adopters, adopters were more trusting of chatbots, were willing to reveal more information, perceived security and privacy risks to be less likely, and took fewer precautions.

Electronic voting machines (EVM) can improve the efficiency of elections. However, due to the possibility of errors in electronic voting machines, user trust in them is an issue. To improve user trust, one mechanism used by EVMs is the inclusion of a paper audit trail, which shows users a paper receipt of their vote for 7-seconds and asks them to verify their vote. While paper audit trails can theoretically improve user trust, their usability has not yet been explored, which can affect user trust. In this paper, we evaluate the usability of paper audit trails by creating two UI prototypes and testing them with users through a user study. The design of the first prototype reflected existing audit trail systems, whereas the second prototype was created using HCI design principles. Results showed that the second prototype improved error recognition rates compared to the first prototype. Post-test interviews showed that the second prototype also reduced users’ stress and anxiety of the voting process. Our work highlights the importance of exploring the human aspect in the design of electronic voting machines, and their associated components such as paper audit trails. It also provides insights into users’ overall perceptions of electronic voting.

Teachers play a key role in educating children about digital security and privacy. They are often at the forefront, witnessing incidents, dealing with the consequences, and helping children handle the technology-related risks. However, little is reported about teachers’ lived classroom experiences and their challenges in this regard. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 Canadian elementary school teachers to understand the risks teachers witness children aged 10–13 facing on digital media, teachers’ mitigation strategies, and how prepared teachers are to help children. Our results show that teachers regularly help children deal with digital risks outside of teaching official curriculum, ranging from minor privacy violations to severe cases of cyberbullying. Most issues reported by teachers were the result of typical behaviours which became risky because they took place over digital media. We use the results to highlight implications for how elementary schools address digital security and privacy.

Tweens are avid users of digital media, which exposes them to various online threats. Teachers are primarily expected to teach children safe online behaviours, despite not necessarily having the required training or classroom tools to support this education. Using the theory of procedural rhetoric and established game design principles, we designed a classroom-based cybersecurity, privacy, and digital literacy game for tweens that has since been deployed to over 300 Canadian elementary schools. The game, A Day in the Life of the JOs , teaches children about 25 cybersecurity, privacy, and digital literacy topics and allows them to practice what they have learned in a simulated environment. We employed a user-centered design process to create the game, iteratively testing its design and effectiveness with children and teachers through five user studies (with a total of 63 child participants and 21 teachers). Our summative evaluation with children showed that the game improved their cybersecurity, privacy, and digital literacy knowledge and behavioural intent and was positively received by them. Our summative evaluation with teachers also showed positive results. Teachers liked that the game represented the authentic experiences of children on digital media and that it aligned with their curriculum requirements; they were interested in using it in their classrooms. In this article, we discuss our process and experience of designing a production quality game for children and provide evidence of its effectiveness with both children and teachers.

With increasing use of technology and the Internet among children, we explore how they create passwords to protect their personal information. We conducted a study with children 11 to 13 years to understand their password practices. The results of the study indicated that these children create simple passwords consisting of their personal information, believe that these passwords are hard for a stranger to guess and do not have good understanding of creating strong passwords.

Digital literacy is an important educational topic because most children consume and create digital media regularly. We used procedural rhetoric to iteratively design an educational game for 11--13 year olds about digital literacy topics. We conducted three empirical user studies to evaluate the game's usability and effectiveness throughout the design process. Results from our summative study showed that children's digital literacy knowledge and intended behavior improved significantly immediately after playing the game and one week later. They also found the game usable, fun, and relatable. We present a case study of our design process, and use insights from our work to propose recommendations for designing children's educational games using procedural rhetoric.

Flexible display devices allow users to interact with the device by deforming the surface of the display to trigger a command. When these devices become mainstream, for example as smart phones, e-readers, or tablets, they will require a means of authenticating legitimate users. In this poster, we present an authentication scheme for flexible display devices, its implementation on a flexible display prototype and an ongoing user study evaluating the usability and security of our system.