Dark patterns in proxemic interactions: a critical perspective

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  • Saul Greenberg
  • Sebastian Boring
  • Jo Vermeulen
  • Jakub Dostal
Proxemics theory explains peoples' use of interpersonal distances to mediate their social interactions with others. Within Ubicomp, proxemic interaction researchers argue that people have a similar social understanding of their spatial relations with nearby digital devices, which can be exploited to better facilitate seamless and natural interactions. To do so, both people and devices are tracked to determine their spatial relationships. While interest in proxemic interactions has increased over the last few years, it also has a dark side: knowledge of proxemics may (and likely will) be easily exploited to the detriment of the user. In this paper, we offer a critical perspective on proxemic interactions in the form of dark patterns: ways proxemic interactions can be misused. We discuss a series of these patterns and describe how they apply to these types of interactions. In addition, we identify several root problems that underlie these patterns and discuss potential solutions that could lower their harmfulness.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing Interactive Systems
Number of pages10
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Publication date2014
Pages523-532
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-4503-2902-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
EventACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems 2014 - Vancouver, United States
Duration: 21 Jun 201425 Jun 2014

Conference

ConferenceACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems 2014
LandUnited States
ByVancouver
Periode21/06/201425/06/2014

ID: 161586715