[Air-L] theoretical framings of dark patterns in design

Tue Apr 30 12:47:35 PDT 2019

Dear Anna,

The Norwegian Consumer Council published a report last year on how tech companies use dark patterns to discourage people from exercising their rights to privacy: https://www.forbrukerradet.no/undersokelse/no-undersokelsekategori/deceived-by-design/.<https://www.forbrukerradet.no/undersokelse/no-undersokelsekategori/deceived-by-design/>

Kind regards,

Sarah

Sarah Eskens, LLM | PhD Candidate | Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam

Visiting address: Nieuwe Achtergracht 166 | REC A 5.06 | 1018 WV Amsterdam

Postal address: P.O. Box 1030 | 1000 BA Amsterdam | Netherlands

s.j.eskens at uva.nl<https://webmail.uva.nl/owa/redir.aspx?C=sbIuq_o4iPLsrgGNI-VpgUXcq6TRH8_2jCgSBkVDa2f1Xo_aGKDUCA..&URL=mailto%3as.j.eskens%40uva.nl> | Tel: +31 (0)20 525 3921

www.ivir.nl<https://webmail.uva.nl/owa/redir.aspx?C=lrhSckzkvRmFqPyZs71azzqRtT3RbIAxJI6Vik33S_T1Xo_aGKDUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ivir.nl%2f> | www.saraheskens.eu<https://webmail.uva.nl/owa/redir.aspx?C=hVGNeDXyOhPvKh4x-mlXJJPGiFI7LYj0ojnt2MZyxvX1Xo_aGKDUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.saraheskens.eu> | twitter/SarahEskens <https://twitter.com/SarahEskens>
<https://webmail.uva.nl/owa/redir.aspx?C=hVGNeDXyOhPvKh4x-mlXJJPGiFI7LYj0ojnt2MZyxvX1Xo_aGKDUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.saraheskens.eu>

________________________________
From: Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Michael Dieter <mdieter at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 8:28 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] theoretical framings of dark patterns in design

I wrote a short chapter some time ago on dark patterns in this
collection using a range of different sources, a sort of evil media
inspired analysis -
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137437204_13
[https://static-content.springer.com/cover/book/978-1-137-43720-4.jpg]<https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137437204_13>

Dark Patterns: Interface Design, Augmentation and Crisis | SpringerLink<https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137437204_13>
link.springer.com
In early 1951, Douglas Engelbart — a young and idealistic electrical engineer working odd jobs for research laboratories in California — was suddenly taken by an unexpected series of epiphanies....

I have to admit it was a bit sketchy, my thoughts on it have probably
changed a bit. I still think the lineage through media theoretical and
anthropological accounts of trapping is quite interesting though,
including people like Alfred Gell or Vilém Flusser - see Nick Seaver's
recent work on algorithms as traps or Benedict Singleton's
dissertation work on the rise of service design for some uses of these
frameworks.

There's also the history of design patterns first proposed by
architect Christopher Alexander, which was then taken up by software
developers in the 80s and 90s, most famously through object-oriented
programming, which spread into through other more specific domains
like interface design or even business thinking. O'Reilly's Web 2.0
manifesto was subtitled "Design Patterns and Business Models for the
Next Generation of Software" after all.

Design patterns establish a shared vocabulary, a shared set of
practices that are easily recognisable and, of course, reiterable.
Alexander described them in terms of a language - and in his respect,
they offer an interesting way to establish a context, a collective
comprehension. The concept also has links to information theory in
Alexander's early experiments with computational analysis of urban
space, and habituation in the reiterative practices of programming or
user interaction more generally (another way to read what Wendy Chun
calls habitual media imo).

But that said, Harry Brignull's analysis of dark patterns is still the
best account in my opinion - and I wouldn't describe this as 'a
journalism', but rather an internal critique within the UX industry to
identify and share contexts where unethical interface design is
practiced. And quite a successful intervention at that!

>
> From: "Love, Patrick S" <lovep at purdue.edu>
> Date: 30 April 2019 at 15:53:15 CEST
> To: Daniel Marques <danielmarquescontato at gmail.com>
> Cc: "air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] theoretical framings of dark patterns in design
>
> I’ve found this piece particularly instructive:
>
> https://www.presenttensejournal.org/volume-6/building-dark-patterns-into-platforms-how-gamergate-perturbed-twitters-user-experience/
> Trice and Potts (2018) Building Dark Patterns into Platforms: How GamerGate Perturbed Twitter’s User Experience.
>
>
>
>
> Patrick Love
>
> PhD Candidate, Purdue University Rhetoric and Composition
>
> Technical Writer, Center for Science of Information, NSF STC
>
> Technology Mentor, Purdue ICaP
>
>
> On Apr 30, 2019, at 8:26 AM, Daniel Marques <danielmarquescontato at gmail.com<mailto:danielmarquescontato at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I believe this paper is a good starting point:
>
> https://doi.org/10.1515/popets-2016-0038
>
> Tales from the Dark Side: Privacy Dark Strategies and Privacy Dark Patterns
> Christoph Böschchristoph.boesch at uni-ulm.de1
> ,
> Benjamin Erbbenjamin.erb at uni-ulm.de1
> ,
> Frank Karglfrank.kargl at uni-ulm.de1
> ,
> Henning Kopphenning.kopp at uni-ulm.de1
> and
> Stefan Pfattheicherstefan.pfattheicher at uni-ulm.de2
>
> Em ter, 30 de abr de 2019 às 09:16, Anna Paukova <anna.paukova at gmail.com<mailto:anna.paukova at gmail.com>>
> escreveu:
>
> Dear all,
>
> i am searching for any relevant theoretical readings which would help
> framing the nature of dark patterns (
> https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/dark-pattern), how they function
[https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/ITKE/images/logos/TTlogo-379x201.png]<https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/dark-pattern>

What is dark pattern? - Definition from WhatIs.com<https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/dark-pattern>
whatis.techtarget.com
dark pattern: This definition explains what a dark pattern is and how interface designers use dark patterns to influence users to take actions that they would not take intentionally. See also manipulative design.

> etc.
> I was wondering if any scholar work on the subject exists or it is rather a
> 'journalism'.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Anna Paukova
> UX Researcher
> Moscow
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org<mailto:Air-L at listserv.aoir.org> mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>
>
>
> --
> *daniel marques*  |  +55 71 9 9998 7903
>
> Professor Assistente | CECULT/UFRB
>
> http://lattes.cnpq.br/9571839733024528
> @daniel_kk  |  facebook.com/danielmarqueskk<http://facebook.com/danielmarqueskk>
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org<mailto:Air-L at listserv.aoir.org> mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/

--
Michael Dieter
http://twitter.com/#!/mdieter
_______________________________________________
The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
http://www.aoir.org/