Family accounts: a new paradigm for user accounts within the home environment

In this paper we present Family Accounts, a new user account model for shared home computers. We conducted a study with sixteen families, eight who used individual profiles at home, and eight who shared a single profile. Our results demonstrate that Family Accounts is a good compromise between a single shared profile and individual profiles for each family member. In particular, we observed that because Family Accounts allowed individuals to switch profiles without forcing them to interrupt their tasks, family members tended to switch to their own profiles only when a task required some degree of privacy or personalization.

[1]  Kori Inkpen Quinn,et al.  Yours, Mine and Ours? Sharing and Use of Technology in Domestic Environments , 2007, UbiComp.

[2]  Nathaniel Good,et al.  Usability and privacy: a study of Kazaa P2P file-sharing , 2003, CHI '03.

[3]  Ronald M. Baecker,et al.  Readings in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: Assisting Human-Human Collaboration , 1992 .

[4]  Martina Angela Sasse,et al.  Why users compromise computer security mechanisms and how to take remedial measures. , 1999 .

[5]  Ravi S. Sandhu,et al.  Secure information sharing enabled by Trusted Computing and PEI models , 2006, ASIACCS '06.

[6]  Alladi Venkatesh,et al.  Computers and other interactive technologies for the home , 1996, CACM.

[7]  Rosa R. Heckle,et al.  Privacy implications for single sign-on authentication in a hospital environment , 2007, SOUPS '07.

[8]  Robert W. Reeder,et al.  Improving user-interface dependability through mitigation of human error , 2005, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[9]  M. Angela Sasse,et al.  Users are not the enemy , 1999, CACM.

[10]  Gunela Astbrink,et al.  Password sharing: implications for security design based on social practice , 2007, CHI.

[11]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  The HomeNet field trial of residential Internet services , 1996, CACM.

[12]  J. Horrigan,et al.  Home broadband adoption 2007 , 2007 .

[13]  Mary Ellen Zurko,et al.  User-centered security , 1996, NSPW '96.

[14]  Gregory D. Abowd,et al.  Ubicomp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing , 2008 .

[15]  Prasun Dewan,et al.  Controlling access in multiuser interfaces , 1998, TCHI.

[16]  Richard Harper,et al.  Inside the Smart Home , 2003, Springer London.

[17]  R. Kraut,et al.  The social context of home computing , 2003 .