New Paper: Balancing Privacy and Serendipity in Cyberspace
Unplanned encounters or casual collisions between colleagues have long
been recognized as catalysts for creativity and innovation. The absence of
such encounters has been a negative side effect of COVID-enforced remote
work. However, there have also been positive side effects such as less time
lost to commutes, lower carbon footprints, and improved work-life balance.
This vision paper explores how serendipity for remote workers can be
created by leveraging IoT technologies, edge computing, high-resolution
video, network protocols for live interaction, and video/audio denaturing.
We reflect on the privacy issues that technology-mediated serendipity raises
and sketch a path towards honoring diverse privacy preferences.