Trust, Control, and Design

A qualitative study of computer scientists’ use of e-mail in Australian universities shows that computer scientists equate trust with control. They seek information that gives them control to personalise and scrutinise the system. In equating trust solely with control, computer scientists are unlike middle-income residential users or young people. The level of control that is demanded is often so great that computer scientists do not use the technologies they design. For “ordinary users,” “comfort” and “caring” — are important dimensions of trust. Computer scientists also differ from young users of new information and communication technologies. Young users see control primarily as physical control, rather than control over information to personalize and scrutinize the system.