Designing Gestural Interfaces

THE ETHICS OF GESTURES

Because gestures are often visible by others, many gestural systems are, by their nature, social systems. People can be observed operating gestural systems in ways that they would not operate a standard computer or mobile device. This leads to some ethical principles that designers should abide by regarding privacy and shame.

Gestures are public in a way that most traditional input is not. Thus, care needs to be taken when it comes to privacy. Large (because of the need for decent touch targets) touchscreen buttons can reveal information that users may not want revealed in a public space: PINs, names, credit card information, addresses, and so forth. If users have to enter this sort of information (at a kiosk, say, or an ATM), designers need to craft the hardware or the physical environment or at least be cognizant of the placement of such products to ensure users' privacy.

Figure 8-17. This photo was covertly taken while visiting a big industrial factory. The left sticker says "Touch Screen: NO!!! BEWARE: Don't touch the screen... except me! I am the operator," and the right one says "Don't touch my screen." Usually, stickers do not declare ownership of keyboards; privacy is different on touchscreens. Courtesy Nicholas Nova.

Also because of the social nature of gestures, designers need to create products that do not shame their users. Gestures—even simple gestures—can ...