2024
Gray, Colin M; Gunawan, Johanna; Schäfer, René; Bielova, Nataliia; Chamorro, Lorena Sánchez; Seaborn, Katie; Mildner, Thomas; Sandhaus, Hauke
Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design Practices Proceedings Article Forthcoming
In: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '24), Forthcoming.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@inproceedings{Gray2024-lo,
title = {Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design Practices},
author = {Colin M Gray and Johanna Gunawan and René Schäfer and Nataliia Bielova and Lorena Sánchez Chamorro and Katie Seaborn and Thomas Mildner and Hauke Sandhaus},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3636310
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024_Grayetal_CHI_DarkPatternsWorkshop.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3613905.3636310},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-01},
urldate = {2024-05-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI EA '24)},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia; Mildner, Thomas
An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building Proceedings Article Forthcoming
In: CHI'24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, Forthcoming.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@inproceedings{Gray2023-yt,
title = {An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova and Thomas Mildner},
url = {https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024_Grayetal_CHI_OntologyDarkPatterns.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3613904.3642436},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
booktitle = {CHI'24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {ACM Press},
abstract = {Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly used by
companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer
choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary
amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting
designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal
professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of
universally accepted definitions across the academic,
legislative and regulatory space has likely limited the impact
that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting
sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek
to support the development of a shared language of dark
patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic
taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology
with standardized definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns
types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate
how this ontology can support translational research and
regulatory action, including pathways to extend our initial
types through new empirical work and map across application
domains.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly used by
companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer
choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary
amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting
designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal
professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of
universally accepted definitions across the academic,
legislative and regulatory space has likely limited the impact
that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting
sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek
to support the development of a shared language of dark
patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic
taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology
with standardized definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns
types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate
how this ontology can support translational research and
regulatory action, including pathways to extend our initial
types through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer
choice. Dark patterns represent the most common contemporary
amalgamation of these problematic practices, connecting
designers, technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal
professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of
universally accepted definitions across the academic,
legislative and regulatory space has likely limited the impact
that scholarship on dark patterns might have in supporting
sanctions and evolved design practices. In this paper, we seek
to support the development of a shared language of dark
patterns, harmonizing ten existing regulatory and academic
taxonomies of dark patterns and proposing a three-level ontology
with standardized definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns
types across low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate
how this ontology can support translational research and
regulatory action, including pathways to extend our initial
types through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
Gray, Colin M; Chivukula, Shruthi Sai; Johns, Janna; Will, Matthew; Obi, Ikechukwu; Li, Ziqing
Languaging Ethics in Technology Practice Journal Article
In: Journal of Responsible Computing, 2024.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Design Theory, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Practice-Led Research, Regulation, UX Practice
@article{Gray2024-mf,
title = {Languaging Ethics in Technology Practice},
author = {Colin M Gray and Shruthi Sai Chivukula and Janna Johns and Matthew Will and Ikechukwu Obi and Ziqing Li},
url = {https://colingray.me/2024_grayetal_jrc_languagingethics/},
doi = {10.1145/3656468},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-01-01},
urldate = {2024-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Responsible Computing},
abstract = {Ethics as embodied by technology practitioners resists simple
definition, particularly as it relates to the interplay of
identity, organizational, and professional complexity. In this
paper we use the linguistic notion of languaging as an analytic
lens to describe how technology and design practitioners
negotiate their conception of ethics as they reflect upon their
everyday work. We engaged twelve practitioners in individual
co-creation workshops, encouraging them to reflect on their
ethical role in their everyday work through a series of
generative and evaluative activities. We analyzed these data to
identify how each practitioner reasoned about ethics through
language and artifacts, finding that practitioners used a range
of rhetorical tropes to describe their ethical commitments and
beliefs in ways that were complex and sometimes contradictory.
Across three cases, we describe how ethics was negotiated through
language across three key zones of ecological emergence: the
practitioner's ``core'' beliefs about ethics, internal and
external ecological elements that shaped or mediated these core
beliefs, and the ultimate boundaries they reported refusing to
cross. Building on these findings, we describe how the languaging
of ethics reveals opportunities to definitionally and practically
engage with ethics in technology ethics research, practice, and
education.},
keywords = {Design Theory, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Practice-Led Research, Regulation, UX Practice},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Ethics as embodied by technology practitioners resists simple
definition, particularly as it relates to the interplay of
identity, organizational, and professional complexity. In this
paper we use the linguistic notion of languaging as an analytic
lens to describe how technology and design practitioners
negotiate their conception of ethics as they reflect upon their
everyday work. We engaged twelve practitioners in individual
co-creation workshops, encouraging them to reflect on their
ethical role in their everyday work through a series of
generative and evaluative activities. We analyzed these data to
identify how each practitioner reasoned about ethics through
language and artifacts, finding that practitioners used a range
of rhetorical tropes to describe their ethical commitments and
beliefs in ways that were complex and sometimes contradictory.
Across three cases, we describe how ethics was negotiated through
language across three key zones of ecological emergence: the
practitioner's ``core'' beliefs about ethics, internal and
external ecological elements that shaped or mediated these core
beliefs, and the ultimate boundaries they reported refusing to
cross. Building on these findings, we describe how the languaging
of ethics reveals opportunities to definitionally and practically
engage with ethics in technology ethics research, practice, and
education.
definition, particularly as it relates to the interplay of
identity, organizational, and professional complexity. In this
paper we use the linguistic notion of languaging as an analytic
lens to describe how technology and design practitioners
negotiate their conception of ethics as they reflect upon their
everyday work. We engaged twelve practitioners in individual
co-creation workshops, encouraging them to reflect on their
ethical role in their everyday work through a series of
generative and evaluative activities. We analyzed these data to
identify how each practitioner reasoned about ethics through
language and artifacts, finding that practitioners used a range
of rhetorical tropes to describe their ethical commitments and
beliefs in ways that were complex and sometimes contradictory.
Across three cases, we describe how ethics was negotiated through
language across three key zones of ecological emergence: the
practitioner's ``core'' beliefs about ethics, internal and
external ecological elements that shaped or mediated these core
beliefs, and the ultimate boundaries they reported refusing to
cross. Building on these findings, we describe how the languaging
of ethics reveals opportunities to definitionally and practically
engage with ethics in technology ethics research, practice, and
education.
2023
Gray, Colin M; Mildner, Thomas; Bielova, Nataliia
Arxiv Preprint, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Research Methods
@unpublished{Gray2023-bs,
title = {Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns: A Case Study of a User's Odyssey to Conquer Prime Membership Cancellation through the "Iliad Flow"},
author = {Colin M Gray and Thomas Mildner and Nataliia Bielova},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2309.09635},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
abstract = {Dark patterns are ubiquitous in digital systems, impacting
users throughout their journeys on many popular apps and
websites. While substantial efforts from the research
community in the last five years have led to consolidated
taxonomies of dark patterns, including an emerging ontology,
most applications of these descriptors have been focused on
analysis of static images or as isolated pattern types. In
this paper, we present a case study of Amazon Prime's
``Iliad Flow'' to illustrate the interplay of dark patterns
across a user journey, grounded in insights from a US
Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company. We
use this case study to lay the groundwork for a methodology
of Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP), including
considerations for characterization of individual dark
patterns across a user journey, combinatorial effects of
multiple dark patterns types, and implications for expert
detection and automated detection.},
howpublished = {Arxiv Preprint},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation, Research Methods},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {unpublished}
}
Dark patterns are ubiquitous in digital systems, impacting
users throughout their journeys on many popular apps and
websites. While substantial efforts from the research
community in the last five years have led to consolidated
taxonomies of dark patterns, including an emerging ontology,
most applications of these descriptors have been focused on
analysis of static images or as isolated pattern types. In
this paper, we present a case study of Amazon Prime's
``Iliad Flow'' to illustrate the interplay of dark patterns
across a user journey, grounded in insights from a US
Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company. We
use this case study to lay the groundwork for a methodology
of Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP), including
considerations for characterization of individual dark
patterns across a user journey, combinatorial effects of
multiple dark patterns types, and implications for expert
detection and automated detection.
users throughout their journeys on many popular apps and
websites. While substantial efforts from the research
community in the last five years have led to consolidated
taxonomies of dark patterns, including an emerging ontology,
most applications of these descriptors have been focused on
analysis of static images or as isolated pattern types. In
this paper, we present a case study of Amazon Prime's
``Iliad Flow'' to illustrate the interplay of dark patterns
across a user journey, grounded in insights from a US
Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company. We
use this case study to lay the groundwork for a methodology
of Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP), including
considerations for characterization of individual dark
patterns across a user journey, combinatorial effects of
multiple dark patterns types, and implications for expert
detection and automated detection.
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia; Mildner, Thomas
Arxiv Preprint, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation
@unpublished{Gray2023-nv,
title = {An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova and Thomas Mildner},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2309.09640},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-01},
urldate = {2023-09-01},
abstract = {Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly
used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit
consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common
contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices,
connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators,
and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue.
However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across
the academic, legislative and regulatory space has likely
limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might
have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices.
In this paper, we seek to support the development of a
shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing
regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and
proposing a three-level ontology with standardized
definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns types across
low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this
ontology can support translational research and regulatory
action, including pathways to extend our initial types
through new empirical work and map across application
domains.},
howpublished = {Arxiv Preprint},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Legal and Policy Perspectives, Regulation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {unpublished}
}
Deceptive and coercive design practices are increasingly
used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit
consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common
contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices,
connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators,
and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue.
However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across
the academic, legislative and regulatory space has likely
limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might
have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices.
In this paper, we seek to support the development of a
shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing
regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and
proposing a three-level ontology with standardized
definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns types across
low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this
ontology can support translational research and regulatory
action, including pathways to extend our initial types
through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
used by companies to extract profit, harvest data, and limit
consumer choice. Dark patterns represent the most common
contemporary amalgamation of these problematic practices,
connecting designers, technologists, scholars, regulators,
and legal professionals in transdisciplinary dialogue.
However, a lack of universally accepted definitions across
the academic, legislative and regulatory space has likely
limited the impact that scholarship on dark patterns might
have in supporting sanctions and evolved design practices.
In this paper, we seek to support the development of a
shared language of dark patterns, harmonizing ten existing
regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns and
proposing a three-level ontology with standardized
definitions for 65 synthesized dark patterns types across
low-, meso-, and high-level patterns. We illustrate how this
ontology can support translational research and regulatory
action, including pathways to extend our initial types
through new empirical work and map across application
domains.
Gray, Colin M; Santos, Cristiana; Bielova, Nataliia
Towards a Preliminary Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge Proceedings Article
In: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23), 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Regulation, Transdisciplinarity
@inproceedings{Gray2023-ds,
title = {Towards a Preliminary Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge},
author = {Colin M Gray and Cristiana Santos and Nataliia Bielova},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585676
https://colingray.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_GraySantosBielova_CHIBLW_OntologyDarkPatterns.pdf},
doi = {10.1145/3544549.3585676},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-01},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors
in Computing Systems (CHI EA '23)},
abstract = {Deceptive design practices are increasingly used by companies to
extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer choice. Dark
patterns represent the most common contemporary amalgamation of
these problematic practices, connecting designers,
technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal professionals in
transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of universally
accepted definitions across the academic, legislative and
regulatory space has likely limited the impact that scholarship
on dark patterns might have in supporting sanctions and evolved
design practices. In this late breaking work, we seek to
harmonize regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns,
proposing a preliminary three-level ontology to create a shared
language that supports translational research and regulatory
action. We identify potential directions for scholarship and
social impact building upon this ontology.},
keywords = {Dark Patterns, Ethics and Values, Regulation, Transdisciplinarity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Deceptive design practices are increasingly used by companies to
extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer choice. Dark
patterns represent the most common contemporary amalgamation of
these problematic practices, connecting designers,
technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal professionals in
transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of universally
accepted definitions across the academic, legislative and
regulatory space has likely limited the impact that scholarship
on dark patterns might have in supporting sanctions and evolved
design practices. In this late breaking work, we seek to
harmonize regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns,
proposing a preliminary three-level ontology to create a shared
language that supports translational research and regulatory
action. We identify potential directions for scholarship and
social impact building upon this ontology.
extract profit, harvest data, and limit consumer choice. Dark
patterns represent the most common contemporary amalgamation of
these problematic practices, connecting designers,
technologists, scholars, regulators, and legal professionals in
transdisciplinary dialogue. However, a lack of universally
accepted definitions across the academic, legislative and
regulatory space has likely limited the impact that scholarship
on dark patterns might have in supporting sanctions and evolved
design practices. In this late breaking work, we seek to
harmonize regulatory and academic taxonomies of dark patterns,
proposing a preliminary three-level ontology to create a shared
language that supports translational research and regulatory
action. We identify potential directions for scholarship and
social impact building upon this ontology.