Grounding Interpersonal Privacy in Mediated Settings

Abstract

Recent technologies supporting continuous connectivity enable sustained awareness within social networks, which eventually boosts interaction and therefore the need of individuals to manage their interpersonal privacy. This paper introduces the Privacy Grounding Model that describes how people develop and use mechanisms to establish a shared understanding of their intentions to interact with others. The main design implication of this model is the need for lightweight interactive mechanisms by which individuals can collaboratively ground needs for interaction. To illustrate how the model supports the design of grounding mechanisms, we present examples and discuss a case study that informs about their use during several weeks.