{"653502":{"#nid":"653502","#data":{"type":"news","title":"CoLab Students Launch \u2018Privacy Helper Project\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA team of undergraduate students in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC)\u0026rsquo;s\u003C\/a\u003E Creative\/Career Origination Lab, or \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/colab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECoLab\u003C\/a\u003E, has launched the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/privacyhelperproject.lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EPrivacy Helper Project\u003C\/a\u003E. This effort aims to educate the Georgia Tech community on better protecting themselves online.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Online privacy is a topic that [people]\u0026nbsp;know is important but often overlook,\u0026rdquo; said Sungeun \u0026ldquo;Harry\u0026rdquo; Bae, a computational media major and designer for the project. \u0026ldquo;Through this site, we wanted to help the Georgia Tech community be more aware of some of the most common online privacy mistakes that people make, especially on a social media platform like Instagram.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBae and Selena Do, a computational media major and surveyor\/researcher for the project, were the team\u0026rsquo;s primary leaders. The remaining team members are Sarah Engel, Bontu Gelan, and Nethra Rammohan, who are all majoring in literature, media, and communication. They assisted with research, testing, communication, outreach, and writing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/jillann-hertel\u0022\u003EJillann Hertel\u003C\/a\u003E, senior academic professional and CoLab director, led the team as faculty advisor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I initially thought of the concept for what became the Privacy Helper Project while contemplating both internet privacy concerns and well-being in relation to our roles as media makers, ambassadors, creatives, scholars, teachers, and students,\u0026rdquo; said Hertel. \u0026ldquo;I thought about how the \u0026lsquo;terms and conditions\u0026#39; are usually a long scroll of legalese that people tend to just fly by and then hit accept. My goal became to initiate and guide a project with students that synthesizes some easy-to-achieve safeguards that people just might utilize if they are communicated in an easily digestible and actionable way.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs part of the project, the students conducted an informal survey assessing Georgia Tech students\u0026rsquo; awareness of privacy regulations on Instagram. The survey results are displayed on the Privacy Helper Project \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/privacyhelperproject.lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ewebsite\u003C\/a\u003E and show significant gaps in knowledge related to the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/519522125107875\u0022\u003EInstagram Data Policy. \u003C\/a\u003EFor example, according to the survey, \u0026ldquo;over 69% of respondents were unaware that Instagram automatically uses facial recognition to identify users in photos, videos, and camera experience.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The survey results were one of the most interesting aspects for me since I\u0026rsquo;m personally invested in user behaviors,\u0026rdquo; said Do. \u0026ldquo;They can usually reveal a lot about the way people think and behave, which is useful to us as we try and understand how to make the project more impactful to them. I also loved how the research and survey results of people\u0026rsquo;s behaviors facilitated our design.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe website also features a video tutorial showing ways to protect your privacy on Instagram.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAn additional facet of the project is the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/privacyhelperproject.lmc.gatech.edu\/passwordTester.html\u0022\u003EPassword Tester\u003C\/a\u003E, which gauges an inputted password\u0026rsquo;s strengths without storing any password information. The tester\u0026rsquo;s JavaScript code, written by Bae, reads the typed password and checks to determine if it is strong or weak. The checker considers a password stronger if it has more than eight characters, includes at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one special character, and numbers. However, the tester does not determine password strength based on the specific characters in the password, so some caution should be taken when using it. (Security experts advise against using common dictionary words as passwords, for instance.)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the collaborative project was created as part of the coursework in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/catalog.gatech.edu\/coursesaz\/lmc\/\u0022\u003ELMC 3813 Design for Community\u003C\/a\u003E, it has the potential to continue expanding its features and scope beyond the semester via future classes, CoLab teams, or both.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is an easy-to-try tool for people to understand better how to create some initial safeguards in their behaviors and better protect their data,\u0026rdquo; said Hertel. \u0026ldquo;The intention is that this project is one that can build. We initially narrowed the scope to bettering privacy on Instagram and passwords. Still, there are many other interrelated ideas which we can expand in the topic and with other students in future semesters.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Creative\/Career Origination Lab, or \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/colab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECoLab\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, is a center in the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E. It gives students space and support to grow as creators, develop their skills, and prepare and explore career possibilities.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The project aims to educate the Georgia Tech community on better protecting themselves online."}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2021-12-08 17:06:55","changed_gmt":"2021-12-09 01:24:55","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2021-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"653501":{"id":"653501","type":"image","title":"Screenshot of the Privacy Helper Project Homepage.","body":null,"created":"1638982959","gmt_created":"2021-12-08 17:02:39","changed":"1638983016","gmt_changed":"2021-12-08 17:03:36","alt":"\u0022Is your Instagram really private?\u0022 on the pink, orange, yellow gradient background like the Instagram logo.","file":{"fid":"247859","name":"Screen Shot 2021-11-18 at 2.36.49 PM copy 2.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-11-18%20at%202.36.49%20PM%20copy%202.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-11-18%20at%202.36.49%20PM%20copy%202.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":186157,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-11-18%20at%202.36.49%20PM%20copy%202.jpeg?itok=Y4K0Ed_n"}}},"media_ids":["653501"],"groups":[{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"37031","name":"Instagram"},{"id":"3221","name":"privacy"},{"id":"438","name":"data"},{"id":"167543","name":"social media"},{"id":"174713","name":"facial recognition"},{"id":"10835","name":"Facebook"},{"id":"189489","name":"Meta"},{"id":"167441","name":"student research"},{"id":"174091","name":"CoLab"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECassidy Chreene Whittle\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSchool of Literature, Media, and Communication | School of Modern Languages\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:cwhittle9@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ecwhittle9@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}