Dynamic, Real time, On-demand Personalisation for Scaling (DROPS)

Privacy is a human right and value that often under threat in the context of technology. While much research has been done on this topic, in the modern era of technology privacy preserving technologies must keep in pace with state of the art technological developments, as in the case of dynamically personalised technologies. Personalised technologies operate on the basis of collecting personal data, dynamically analysing it to infer knowledge about the user and providing in-the-moment responses that add value for the user. The privacy implications of this technology, however, have been not explored extensively. DROPS will address this through an examination of the privacy, trust and identity issues that arise from the development of personalized e-books for children's reading. Our focus on children's reading is motivated by evidence that shows the value of personalised e-books for learning and reading enjoyment, and yet the lack of research that engages with the range of privacy issues that these technologies introduce.

DROPS has two broad synergetic goals: i) To develop a ThingsSpace that manages the computational process of personalizing technology, such as e-books, in such a way that a user's personal data is protected. ThingsSpace will use an existing personal data store, the HAT, to store personal data subsequently used by the e-book's algorithm to adapt to the child's pedagogical needs ii) To use ThingsSpace as a springboard to document and evaluate the privacy, trust and identity issues resulting from its design and use. This evaluation will lead to the development of different economic and business models creating a feedback loop with the technical design.

Across all of the project stages, we will co-create the technology with future end users of ThingsSpace (publishers, SMEs, designers of personalized digital products) and end users of personalised e-books (teachers, parents, children). This multi-stakeholder approach will allow us to ensure that the aspired values of e-books (for learning and privacy) are aligned with the economic models used to monetise this technology and the technical platform that delivers it. The code for ThingsSpace will be open source in order to allow other researchers and commercial parties to transfer our project findings to the diverse domains that digital personalisation is currently used, e.g. Finance, HealthCare, Social Media.

DROPS focuses on the case of e-books with teachers and parents serving as the gatekeepers of these digital products who are often not cognisant of the privacy risks these complex technologies raise for young people who cannot yet give consent. Through co-creation workshops with these key stakeholders we will develop their understanding of how personalised technologies operate and the privacy issues that arise. This participation is expected to lead to preparedness that shapes their personal and professional practice.

We will develop novel technology by combining the latest state-of-the-art technology in personal data storage (the HAT) with privacy requirements in an emerging technology area, dynamically personalised digital products. The project will create new design methodologies and techniques that ensure there is alignment between good pedagogy, user experience and privacy in e-books. This knowledge will be disseminated and transferred through directly working with publishers of e-books showcasing the viability of our technology to their existing offering. Through this collaborative engagement with the commercial sector, we will also develop novel approaches to the economic models that take into account both privacy and financial viability.

We are committed to developing the skillset of future technology designers, in the domains of privacy and digital learning. We will develop projects and teaching materials across the four institutions involved in DROPS to develop know how and expertise in our undergraduate and graduate cohorts.

Public engagement will capitalise on the interdisciplinary partnerships and involve knowledge exchange activities such as workshops with children's media industry and publishers, high-profile media coverage, student projects and placements and relevant national and international conferences and scholarly publications.