ISG Project to Take Part in ESRC’s Festival of Social Science: 13th March 2010

ISG Project to Take Part in ESRC’s Festival of Social Science

As part of the VOME project, the Information Security Group has teamed up with physical theatre company, Bimbilibausa, and Sunderland City Council to put on an exciting interactive event aimed at uncovering people’s views about online privacy.

The event, which is free to attend, is being held on the 13th March at 10.30am and 12.30pm at the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. It forms part of the nationwide Festival of Social Science which is run by the Economic and Social Research Council – the leading funder of social science research in the UK - and is intended to help the general public discover more about the world of social science.

The Winter gardens event begins with a short interactive play about a case of mistaken identity online and the privacy implications that ensue from it. This leads into an audience discussion which uses a multi-media presentation to find out their views about giving out personal information online, not just, for instance, when shopping but also when using social media such as Facebook.

The event will be showcasing the Visualisation and Other Methods of Expression (VOME) research project which is seeking to raise awareness about online privacy issues.

Dr. Lizzie Coles-Kemp from the ISG, who is the VOME project manager, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for members of the public, who want to do more online, but feel constrained by worries about their own privacy, to come along and tell us about these concerns and maybe learn a little which might help them feel more secure in their future on-line dealings.”
 
The event is being staged by Sunderland City Council and VOME which, in addition to the Council involves researchers from Information Security Group (Royal Holloway, University of London,) Salford and Cranfield Universities the Consult Hyperion privacy consultancy, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
 
VOME aims to produce methods and tools for negotiating and engaging with privacy and consent. These tools could help service users define, agree and check levels of privacy when using the Internet and might help service providers respond more effectively to the service users’ on-line policy concerns. 

For more information contact:  Claire Hudson, VOME Project Co-ordinator, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX. Tel : 01784 414347 email: Claire.hudson [at] rhul [dot] ac [dot] uk