The Role of User Perceptions in Designing Ubiquitous Monitoring Systems

Pervasive computing will fundamentally change the way people interact with computers. By observing our actions on an unprecedented scale, the technology will enable new services and applications without the need for direct interaction from the user. However, research has shown that excessive levels of monitoring/data collection can cause undesirable effects on users. Researchers have begun to study the effect of this technology on users in order to prevent the possibility of undesirable effect. The focus has been on the impact of overall system design/choices, leaving the role of the user as a relatively unexplored area. As such, in this paper we propose the importance of user perceptions of monitoring systems in the process of predicting and explaining human behaviour.