Ryan Calo in Against Notice Skepticism in Privacy proposes that we consider Visceral Notice alternatives to language-based notice.
Visceral Notice leads consumers to experience information rather than just telling them information. Think of road designers putting speed bumps onto the road, rather than signs saying to slow down.
Ryan Calo lists off several types of Visceral Notice:
- Using a familiarity with one technology or context to warn or inform about another;
- Using certain common psychological reactions to design to change a consumer’s mental model of the product or service;
- ‘Showing’ consumers instead of ‘telling’ them, about the result of practices for them
Familiarity Notice:
- the Samsung Jitterbug phone, that is a cell phone but mimics traditional phones in almost every respect, to signal to elderly users how to operate the device
- silent electric cars having fake engine noises to give better warning to pedestrians that a car is close
- digital cameras making a click or a flash when taking a picture, to alert people that a photo is being taken
Psychological Reaction Notice:
- ‘Casual’ interfaces, with misspellings and vivid colors, caused subjects to be more honest & forthcoming than a somber & official-looking interfaces
Showing Notices
- use anecdotes of other stories to overcome optimism bias, like a doctor telling a patient stories about others with breast cancer, rather than just reciting statistics
- tailoring anecdotes to specific users
- showing users reports that the company is keeping about them, so that they can see & potentially review & approve it before the company will collect the data
- showing users what assumptions the service has made about them, and allowing the user to manicure them