Designing with data. Anticipating the impact of personal data usage on individuals and society

Abstract

In a world where digital technologies are becoming human symbionts, in the form of personal companions, wearable devices, and connected environments, digital services can rely more and more on the massive collection of personal data to provide extremely tailored experiences. [1] It becomes necessary to explore the consequences of data harvesting and use during the design of new systems and services, especially before such solutions are fully deployed. In this paper, we propose the Impact Anticipation Method, which collects knowledge on potential issues related to the use of personal data in the design of new physical-digital solutions and we exemplify its application through a use case. The goal is to provide designers of data-rich digital solutions with a tool that analyzes the issues and the perturbations their designs could have on people and society, ultimately supporting the formulation of guidelines to refine the designed solutions.