Digital Enlightenment Yearbook 2013: AAC and digital privacy
With Lizzie Coles-Kemp, I wrote an AAC-focused chapter in Digital Enlightenment Yearbook 2013, which has just been published. You can view the chapter contents here, and the abstract for our bit goes like this (DOI is DOI10.3233/978-1-61499-295-0-59):
There are many communities of ubiquitous computing users that are on the periphery of society, and these liminal users are often left to negotiate their relationship with technology without the help and support provided to more mainstream users. One such community is formed around users of Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) technology. Changes in the commercial landscape have brought within reach dramatic improvements in AAC and made them more accessible and supportive to their user community. These improvements, though overwhelmingly positive, amplify a family of personal data management problems that are similar to those experienced by more typical ubiquitous computing users. This paper argues that information manaagement practices deployed by the AAC user community are ones that mainstream society may benefit from using. Accordingly, this paper explores a number of personal data management problems that arise during AAC use and considers how AAC users have developed work arounds and information management practices to protect their personal information. Whilst this paper is focused on AAC technology, the responses could be generalised for a broader spectrum of society.
and here’s the book in it’s actual glory..