Safeguarding the User - Developing a Multimodal Design for Surveying and Raising Internet Safety and Security Awareness

Internet safety and security for the user is an issue of great importance for the successful implementation of ICT, but since it is a complex field, with a specialist vocabulary that cannot immediately be understood by the common user, it is difficult to survey the field. The user may not understand the questions that are being asked, since the issues are often technical and outside the users’ domain. It is therefore pertinent to develop new ways of researching the users’ awareness of ICT safety and security issues that do not depend solely on the verbal mode of communication. This paper describes an ICT-based research method that combines a verbal mode of inquiry with a visual mode employing illustrations, animations and simulations to provide the user with a multimodal media experience. The rationale for this is that we are working in a complex technical field with a specialist vocabulary. The technique enables users to provide answers based on actions performed in specific situations. The paper will present the preliminary results from the pilot-study, as well as report on the development on the method and the methodological implications.