A few days ago, we received the exciting news that our workshop paper,Towards Privacy-friendly Telepresence Robots for Schoolchildren with Long-term Illnesses – User Needs of Relevant User Groups," was accepted at the 10th Usable Security and Privacy Workshop at "Mensch und Computer 2024." Additionally, our short paper, "“I Don’t Want Parents to Watch My Lessons” – Privacy Trade-offs in the Use of Telepresence Robots in Schools for Children with Long-term Illnesses," was accepted at "Mensch und Computer 2024" (MuC).

"Mensch und Computer" (MuC) is a conference series on human-computer interaction in Germany. According to their website, "The goal of the conference is to discuss innovative research results, promote the exchange of information between science and practice, stimulate research activities and education, and raise awareness among science, practice, and the public about the relevance of human- and task-oriented technology design." Therefore, it is very important for many participants, including our team, to receive feedback and the opportunity to disseminate our research progress and receive suggestions for improvement.

The workshop paper addresses aspects such as the needs of students, teachers, and parents, as well as the challenges to overcome in order to meet these needs. The needs of user groups often conflict, for example, teachers expect children to be visible in class to monitor their participation, while sick children often do not want to show their faces. Therefore, our task is to design the robots in a way that allows users to choose their preferred privacy settings.

Important topics include the visibility of children at home, information and people in the classroom, access to lessons for third parties, and privacy agreements. A privacy-friendly solution would enable children with long-term illnesses to participate in classes without compromising the privacy and ethical concerns of others.

Our second paper also summarizes the above aspects. We focus on the privacy trade-offs between children, parents, and potentially involved individuals, such as parents and doctors. Our goal is to find a balance between their needs and concerns.

We are excited to be accepted as a team at MuC. We look forward to the conference in September in Karlsruhe!

For more information about the conference: https://muc2024.mensch-und-computer.de/de/