Novel, comic-based approach to smartphone permission requests
Abstract
This doctoral thesis investigates comics as a medium for presenting permission requests
to users of smartphones and assessing how they can be used to support the users in making
more informed decisions. Through three empirical studies, this thesis has generated
insights into the creation of comic-based permission requests, the impact they have and
what users would expect from them. In the first study, three co-design workshops were
run where participants created their own comic requests, generating a series of design
considerations for comic-based permission requests to better inform users. These
considerations were used to design and develop the comic requests used in the subsequent
studies to investigate if they supported users in making informed decisions in a balanced
way. The comic-based permissions were evaluated by users in an online survey (Study
2) and in a WebApp (Study 3), to affirm the viability and the reliability of the
considerations. The results of the evaluations suggest that comics are a viable medium
to display more informative permission requests which help inform users and promote
more informed decisions.