Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Feedback And Focus: Exploring Post-Secondary Students’ Perceptions Of Feedback, Mindfulness, And Stress, Cecilia S, Dong, Erin Isings, Samantha M. Jones, Hugh Samson, Lisa Mccorquodale, Thomas G. W. Telfer, Tracey Ropp, Christine E. Bell

FIMS Publications

Addressing feedback-associated stress as a barrier to learning is increasingly relevant to student success and well-being. Mindfulness practices support stress management for students during the academic feedback process. Even if students receive high-quality feedback, the receiving end of feedback can be stressful, perhaps raising feelings of anxiety, confusion, or inadequacy. Feedback literacy and mindfulness practices complement one another. Mindfulness can potentially support feedback literacy by focusing one’s attention on the tasks needed to address feedback, instead of being distracted by emotions triggered by feedback. This study, comprised of an online survey (n = 237) and focus groups (n …

Examining How Users Perceive And Respond To Dark Patterns, Vicky Chung, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Dark patterns are user interface (UI) design elements that influence users to take actions that benefit an online service and that are generally not in the user’s best interest. Studies show that users demonstrate some awareness of and ability to identify dark patterns. Users also report experiencing negative emotions such as annoyance when encountering these tactics online. Yet, while users may abstractly understand that dark patterns exist, there is a disconnect between this understanding and their behavioural responses to manipulative design. Research has experimentally determined that dark patterns are effective at influencing users’ behaviour across different online activities, including consenting …

Identifying And Responding To Privacy Dark Patterns, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Privacy dark patterns are user interface design strategies intended to “nudge” users to reveal personal data, either directly or by enabling (or failing to disable) privacy-invasive platform/profile settings. Examples of privacy dark patterns on social media include defaults that enable the public display of posted content, warnings that follow attempts to reject personalized ads, and hidden “skip” buttons that make it more challenging to decline privacy-undermining requests such as to sync contacts.

Our project aims to minimize the impact of privacy dark patterns on Canadian youth. Building on our prior research documenting the use of these strategies on five social …

Approaches To Regulating Privacy Dark Patterns, Matthew Gaulton, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

In this paper, we will evaluate new bills slated to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and offer stronger privacy dark pattern protections to Canadians.

Existing scholarship in the realm of privacy law, such as “Deceptive Design and Ongoing Consent in Privacy Law” by Jeremy Wiener and “Privacy Dark Patterns: A Case for Regulatory Reform in Canada” by Ademola Adeyoju, primarily focuses on creating frameworks for understanding privacy dark patterns in the law and explaining the pitfalls and legal inadequacies surrounding dark pattern legislation in Canada.

However, the aim of this paper diverges significantly. While acknowledging …

Identifying Dark Patterns In User Account Disabling Interfaces: Content Analysis Results, Dominique Kelly, Victoria L. Rubin

FIMS Publications

Dark patterns are user interface (UI) strategies deliberately designed to influence users to perform actions or make choices that benefit online service providers. This mixed methods study examines dark patterns employed by social networking sites (SNSs) with the intent to deter users from disabling accounts. We recorded our attempts to disable experimental accounts in 25 SNSs drawn from Alexa’s 2020 Top Sites list. As a result of our systematic content analysis of the recordings, we identified major types of dark patterns (Complete Obstruction, Temporary Obstruction, Obfuscation, Inducements to Reconsider, and Consequences) and unified them into a conceptual model, based on …