Connecting People with RFID

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Connecting People with RFID
User study of the Hunaja system at Aula
Cooperative

• Jyri Engeström
• Ulla-Maaria Mutanen
• August 2002

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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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• Hunaja is an RFID access control system that
  enables users to remotely check who is logged in
  at a physical location by using the Web or a
  mobile phone
• Hunaja was developed in 2001-2002 at the Aula
  cooperative, which is a non-profit organization
  based in Helsinki
• For three months (May-July 2002), Aula issued a
  trial set of 50 RFID tags to its members
• 9 members were selected for this user study. All
  of the participants were in the 20-35 age group
• The participants use of the system was followed
  and recorded for two weeks during the month of
  July

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• In addition to controlling the doors of the Aula
  space, Hunaja has three unique features
• Linkage to Aulas weblog, enabling online members
  to remotely see who is logged in at Aulas
  physical space
• SMS access, enabling members to check whos there
  with their mobile phone
• A speech synthesizer at the door, enabling online
  members to send greeting messages. The messages
  are announced by a computer voice when the
  recipient logs in at Aulas door

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Which form of tag is preferred?

• The purpose of the experiment was to embed RFID
  tags in each of the three most common items in
  peoples pockets, analyze their everyday usage
  situations, and discover user preferences

2. The wallet with credit cards
1. The keys
?
?
?
3. The mobile phone
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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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• The 9 participants were divided into three groups
  of three people, according to the type of RFID
  tag used

Group 1 Keychain users Keychain danglers
enclosing the RFID tag were designed and
hand-made by a local fashion student.
Group 2 Public transport card users The Helsinki
City Transport is switching to RFID ticket cards.
The cards also worked with the readers at Aula.
Group 3 Mobile phone users A tag was taped on
the back cover of each users mobile phone,
turning the phone itself into an RFID tag.
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The key chain tag a unique fashion item

• Benefits
• Token of community membership
• If the use of the RFID tag is connected to
  opening doors, it is convenient to have with
  other keys
• Small and attachable, easy to carry on
• Unique design attracts attention, works as a
  conversation item
• No electric power current, simple and safe
• Cheap, does not attract pickpockets
• Shock-proof and water-proof
• Easy to turn off by leaving it home
• Drawbacks
• If not attached to key chain, gets lost easily
• Lack of name on tag cause mix-ups

I have to throw my key chain from the 3rd floor
where I live for dinner guests to enter through
the front door - this is another great feature of
the Hunaja key Ive thrown it already about 100
times but its not annoyed at all and works just
fine. Maarit (31, Journalist)
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The public transport card a mundane commodity

• Benefits
• Larger tag surface area provides longer reading
  distance Girls liked it especially because they
  only needed to show their handbag to the reader
• The ability to add new functionalities to the
  card was exciting
• Ive noticed that people are nowadays showing off
  with all kinds of power cards. So it would be
  nice if I could add some fun personal services to
  it.(Lisa, 26, Content Manager at an e-learning
  company)
• Drawbacks
• Not considered interesting or a conversation
  item
• Im into fashion but not into cards theyre nice
  and compact but I dont like them, theyre too
  conformist.(Göran, 22, Musician)

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The mobile phone an object of personal affection

• Benefits
• The RFID functionality of the phone was a social
  jaw-dropper
• When I let in some international music reportes
  to a gig at Aula, they saw me use the phone to
  open the door Wow, did your phone just do
  that? They thought it was so cool.(Niko, 27,
  Radio DJ)
• Drawbacks
• It was more no longer possible to borrow the tag
  to friends or leave it in an envelope at a hotel
• Tag could no longer be dropped out the window to
  friends waiting on the street
• Users were worried about compromising the ease
  use if RFID tags are embedded in phones
• The problem with mobile phones is when they run
  out of battery, or software has a bug(Göran, 22,
  Musician)
• The functions should be put on the surface of the
  phone, not hidden behind complex menus(Lisa, 26,
  Content Manager at an e-learning company)

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Cordless Hands-Free may become the key enabler of
proximity-related multitasking

• Without Hands-Free, multitasking was not possible
• RFID use disturbed ongoing phone calls
• I was on the phone with my friend and stopped at
  the door, looking for the keys in my pocket. Then
  I realized that it was the phone! So I told my
  friend Wait a second, I have to open this door
  and swiped the phone and then had to do the same
  thing upstairs.(Tomi 27, Photographer)

• With Hands-Free, spatial range was limited by the
  cable
• RFID use while talking with a traditional
  Hands-Free was possible but required moving
  unnaturally close to the door and stretching the
  cable.
• Its like using the yo-yo at the ski lift(Niko,
  27, Radio DJ)
• On longer term, wireless Hands-Free was
  considered a must

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Proximity multitasking additional peripherals?

• Because RFID is used by making physical gestures
  with the device, its implementation may increase
  pressures to distribute the functions of the
  handset among two or even three lightweight
  personal appliances
• With multiple appliances, attachability and
  wearability become necessary
• If the size of the appliances is reduced, risk of
  losing them increases
• Graceful physical gestures to swipe the tag may
  be better accomplished with ring or wristband
  devices

• Reducing clutter vs. distributing risk
• Reduction of clutter and small things to
  remember was considered highly desirable
• I use my tag at the studio and at Aula. Its
  great to have the same tag work in many
  places.(Tomi, 27, Photographer)
• However, users also expressed the need to
  distribute risk across many carry-on items and,
  in some situations, physically detach a certain
  functionality
• Distributing the keys is my form of damage
  prevention limiting the risk of losing
  everything. Its a question of security.(Stephani
  e, 29, Student of social science)

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Notes for designers

• Proximity functions are powerful social status
  symbols
• The RFID tag should be embedded but removable
  (like the SIM card)
• The system should be able to cope with the fact
  that sometimes people need to lend their tag to
  others
• Maarit notices that Hannu is logged in at Aula.
  She decides to call him in order to ask if he
  would join her for lunch. It turns out that Hannu
  is not even near Aula. He has just let in some of
  his friends who do not have a key.
• Tags should be visibly identifiable and
  personifiable on the outside
• On her way out form Aula, Stephanie accidentally
  pockets someone elses tag. Afterwards she
  notices her mistake and realizes she could have
  used it for weeks without knowing that she logs
  in with a different personality.
• The operator should be able to turn off the
  RFID tag in case the phone is stolen

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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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Simplified flowchart of the feedback sequence
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Technical exception handling common instances

• Tag is not recognized
• System stays idle
• Tag is recognized but not registered for any user
  
• LED turns green then red, lock stays closed,
  speech alert
• Tag is registered for a user but has been marked
  as lost or stolen
• LED turns green then red, lock stays closed,
  speech alert
• Connection to the server is down
• Use local backup of database for 12 hours, Hunaja
  message receiving disabled
• Connection to the door lock is down
• Lock does not open
• Connection to the speech synthesizer is down
• No speech feedback

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Social exception handling common instances

• A. Door is opened by another person
• Person inside wants to open the door as courtesy
  to another person who has her hands full
• Slipping in through the door behind somebody is
  routine

• B. Somebody is blocking access to the reader
• Having a conversation in the doorway is common as
  people linger there before leaving

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Its all about minding others

• Face-to-face interaction overrides the attention
  paid to the reader device

• Failure to log out
• Logging out is not a priority when saying
  face-to-face goodbyes
• When stepping out, people are not used to
  performing other routine gestures
• Knowledge of the automatic 8-hour kill period
  reduced the incentive to log out
• Coming in, you do it for yourself. Going out, you
  do it for other people, out of courtesy.(Niko,
  27, Radio DJ)

• Being in the space and being outside the
  space are fuzzy concepts
• When you know youre coming right back, you dont
  want other people to think you left
  already.(Niko, 27, Radio DJ)

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Alternative cognitive models

• A. Substituting person for RFID tag
• Older man (without RFID tag) asks a younger woman
  at the door Does the system recognize me the
  next time I enter?

• B. One tag ? one system
• One public transport card user (Stephanie, 29,
  French graduate student) mistakenly thought other
  Aula members could track her in the public
  transport system with Hunaja

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Notes for designers

• Combining a voluntary login gesture with
  automatic identification in the immediate
  surrounding area may be the most robust solution
• There should be a logical undo action for each
  RFID operation
• The identification gesture has to be quick and
  kung-fu smooth, not causing disturbance in
  other simultaneous operations
• Tactile feedback is crucial in routine,
  low-attention gestures, especially when people
  are simultaneously engaged in face-to-face or
  phone conversations
• One tag with multiple uses may create confusion
  when users struggle to form a cognitive model of
  more than one system

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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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Maarit (31, Journalist)
Maarit
Maarit and her husband lead an active social life
in a large downtown apartment. She writes daily
postings on the Aula weblog and follows
intensively the activities at Aula.
I do spy on people a bit through Hunaja.
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When Maarit sees that her brother Niko is at
Aula, she calls him up and ends up inviting both
Niko and his friend Timo for picnic and dinner.
I looked at everybodys member cards and found
out whose friends they are! Cheap fun and much
more entertaining than a boring movie for
instance.
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Timo
Timo works at the city library. He studies
graphic design and publishes a skateboard
magazine. He follows the weblog but periodically
changes his Hunaja identity to confuse possible
stalkers and stay anoymous.
Timo (25, Student of graphic design)
I like to be by myself and in peace. Ive no need
to communicate to others Hey, look at me, Im
here.
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Hunaja was used as a personal intelligence
service for scouting moves making moves
A. The Observer
B. The Observed
!
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Web Space SMS

• Scouting the moves
• Entertainment
• Time-saving
• Spying
• Romance
• Avoidance
• Professional interests
• Recruitment

• Making the moves
• Social contact-seeking
• Community-building
• Personal branding
• Career-building

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Two types of strategies for acquiring social
capital were observed
A. Bonding
B. Bridging

• Building social bonds
• Desire to move toward the center of a network
  characterized by closure, a close-knit group
  where everyone knows each other

• Building social bridges
• Some people who were already established in their
  groups concentrated on forging soda straw links
  between groups, acting as brokers of information

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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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First the tag was just a new token or accessory
then came the knowledge of the information its
showing. It made me more conscious about the
movement of other people, and concerned about
what its showing about me, and how people might
use that information. Stephanie (29, Graduate
student of political science)
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Users wanted to regulate the access to
information about their identity, activity and
location on the fly
Myself only
Select groups
All users
Big brother
1. Identity
Level 1 Anonymous nickname

• What attributes does user X have?
• Which users have attribute J?

Level 2 Google search with real name
Level 3 Information not on Google (e.g. salary,
people you like, purchasing profile)
2. Activities
Level 1 Available / not available

• What is user X doing now?
• Which users are now doing R?

Level 2 Broad categories (on vacation, at work)
Level 3 Detailed level (in a meeting, at the
movies, looking for company)
3. Location
Level 1 City / country of residence

• Where is user X now?
• Which users are now at location Z?

Level 2 GPS coordinates
Level 3 Names of places (at Aula, at home, in
tram number 4)
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Systems can be developed toward three alternative
scenarios
1. Big Brother
2. Reality TV
3. Neighborhood Watch

• In the scenario, an unknown number of observers
  (people who have access to data from the reader)
  have unidirectional access to the identity,
  activities, and location of a known number of tag
  users. This is the classic scare that Orwell
  wrote about in his book 1984.

• In this scenario, a known number of tag users can
  give reader data access to an unknown number of
  observers. A similar phenomena can be witnessed
  in the popular reality TV shows, for instance.

• This is the intended model of Hunaja each member
  has access to the Aula space with the RFID tag,
  and is able to also observe others online and via
  SMS. However, because only 50 people out of 500
  had tags, usage of Hunaja drifted towards the
  celebrity scenario. This was reflected in the
  motivation of the users.

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Notes for designers

• Situation, space and time affect the level of
  trust
• Users want to be in control. It should be easy to
  make changes to access privileges while on the
  move
• The system should enable white lies

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Contents of this presentation

• Overview of the Hunaja system
• Using RFID tags
• Using the reader devices
• The motives of use
• Privacy and trust
• Summary and open questions

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Summary Connecting people with RFID

• Empowering mobile phone users with RFID tags
  opens up a new domain not only for traditional
  applications, but also for connecting people in
  small worlds like Aula
• However, a Wall of China the ability for users
  to opt in / opt out easily should be maintained
  between the practical and social functions of RFID

• Practical function

Wall of China Users control of opt-in /
opt-out on the fly
Social function
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Open questions

• How do user expectations and reactions vary
  across different cultures and demographics?
• Experience of tags and reader devices
• Social motivations
• Concerns regarding trust and privacy
• What kinds of physical locations are suitable for
  the placement of reader devices?
• How can multiple services be integrated on one
  RFID tag without risking mix-ups in user
  conceptions (especially when payments are
  involved)?
• What is the preferred user interface for managing
  groups and regulating levels of privacy?

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Thank you for your attention.

• For further information, visit the Hunaja Web
  page at www.aula.cc/hunaja
• Contact the authors
• Jyri Engeström jyri_at_aula.cc
• Ulla-Maaria Mutanen ulla_at_aula.cc