Tom Lodge

Holger Schnädelbach, Tom Lodge, Tim Coughlan et al.

Engaging residential communities with each other and with management remains a challenge. Housing providers deploy a variety of engagement strategies, some of which are supported by digital technologies. Their individual success is varied and integrated, multipronged approaches are seen to be more successful. As part of those, it is important to address people's perceptions of community and places, as well as any practical issues that they face. We present the design and evaluation of Photo Screen, a situated, public photo taking and viewing screen which was deployed in the context of a new flagship housing estate as part of a range of community engagement measures. In a new context, we confirm the high levels of engagement that can be achieved with this simple mechanism. We propose that photo 'tagging' might offer a second-stage engagement mechanism and enable meaningful dialogue between residents and management. Finally, we discuss how this playful activity allowed residents to positively shape the perception of their community.

Thomas Lodge, Anthony Brown, Andy Crabtree

We present the Databox application development environment or SDK as a means of enabling trusted IoT app development at the network edge. The Databox platform is a dedicated domestic platform that stores IoT, mobile and cloud data and executes local data processing by third party apps to provide end-user control over data flow and enable data minimisation. Key challenges for building apps in edge environments concern i. the complexity of IoT devices and user requirements, and ii. supporting privacy preserving features that meet new data protection regulations. We show how the Databox SDK can ease the burden of regulatory compliance and be used to sensitize developers to privacy related issues in the very course of building apps. We present feedback on the SDK's exposure to over 3000 people across a range of developer and industry events.

Lachlan Urquhart, Tom Lodge, Andy Crabtree

This paper explores the importance of accountability to data protection, and how it can be built into the Internet of Things (IoT). The need to build accountability into the IoT is motivated by the opaque nature of distributed data flows, inadequate consent mechanisms, and lack of interfaces enabling end-user control over the behaviours of internet-enabled devices. The lack of accountability precludes meaningful engagement by end-users with their personal data and poses a key challenge to creating user trust in the IoT and the reciprocal development of the digital economy. The EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) seeks to remedy this particular problem by mandating that a rapidly developing technological ecosystem be made accountable. In doing so it foregrounds new responsibilities for data controllers, including data protection by design and default, and new data subject rights such as the right to data portability. While GDPR is technologically neutral, it is nevertheless anticipated that realising the vision will turn upon effective technological development. Accordingly, this paper examines the notion of accountability, how it has been translated into systems design recommendations for the IoT, and how the IoT Databox puts key data protection principles into practice.