Tristan Henderson

Jon Crowcroft, Hamed Haddadi, Arthur Gervais et al.

We introduce Proof-of-Steak (PoS) as a fundamental net-zero block generation technique, often accompanied by Non-Frangipane Tokens. Genesis cut is gradually heated and minted (using the appropriate sauce), enabling the miners to redirect the extracted gold and the dissipated heat into the furnace, hence enabling the first fully-circular economy ever built using blockchain technology, utilising tamper-evident steak haché. In this paper we present the basic ingredients for building Proof-of-Steak, assessing its global impact, and opportunities to save the world and beyond!

Chris Norval, Tristan Henderson

Social media have become a rich source of data, particularly in health research. Yet, the use of such data raises significant ethical questions about the need for the informed consent of those being studied. Consent mechanisms, if even obtained, are typically broad and inflexible, or place a significant burden on the participant. Machine learning algorithms show much promise for facilitating a 'middle ground' approach: using trained models to predict and automate granular consent decisions. Such techniques, however, raise a myriad of follow-on ethical and technical considerations. In this paper, we present an exploratory user study (n = 67) in which we find that we can predict the appropriate flow of health-related social media data with reasonable accuracy, while minimising undesired data leaks. We then attempt to deconstruct the findings of this study, identifying and discussing a number of real-world implications if such a technique were put into practice.

Chris Norval, Tristan Henderson

Social media are a rich source of insight for data mining and user-centred research, but the question of consent arises when studying such data without the express knowledge of the creator. Case studies that mine social data from users of online services such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly common. This has led to calls for an open discussion into how researchers can best use these vast resources to make innovative findings while still respecting fundamental ethical principles. In this position paper we highlight some key considerations for this topic and argue that the conditions of informed consent are often not being met, and that using social media data that some deem free to access and analyse may result in undesirable consequences, particularly within the domain of health research and other sensitive topics. We posit that successful exploitation of online personal data, particularly for health and other sensitive research, requires new and usable methods of obtaining consent from the user.

Richard Mortier, Hamed Haddadi, Tristan Henderson et al.

The increasing generation and collection of personal data has created a complex ecosystem, often collaborative but sometimes combative, around companies and individuals engaging in the use of these data. We propose that the interactions between these agents warrants a new topic of study: Human-Data Interaction (HDI). In this paper we discuss how HDI sits at the intersection of various disciplines, including computer science, statistics, sociology, psychology and behavioural economics. We expose the challenges that HDI raises, organised into three core themes of legibility, agency and negotiability, and we present the HDI agenda to open up a dialogue amongst interested parties in the personal and big data ecosystems.