Over the past 10 years, the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS) has served as a critical forum for bridging the gap between technical security research and real-world usability challenges. One key lesson from our journey is the importance of centering marginalized users, particularly people with visual impairments, in privacy and security design. Our early 2015 study, “I’m Stuck!”: A Contextual Inquiry of People with Visual Impairments in Authentication, revealed how inaccessible login systems create unnecessary barriers. These findings underscored a broader truth: security that isn’t usable for all isn’t truly secure.
By partnering with communities like the National Federation of the Blind, we learned how inclusive research methods, such as contextual inquiry and participatory design, elicit equitable enhancements to the current state of accessible technology. SOUPS 2015, hosted at Carleton University, provided a platform to share these insights, showing us that innovation thrives at the intersection of diverse identities and perspectives. I later discovered that our paper became part of Carnegie Mellon University’s recommended reading list in a Usability Security and Privacy course syllabus five years after our presentation, and one of my Toastmaster colleagues even shared how our paper surfaced in HCI course materials she was taking at the University of Washington.
SOUPS reminded me that impact extends beyond publications. From mentoring students to speak on panels to translating usability findings into tools like CrowdIntent, our Social Computing Systems (SALT) Lab’s academic work drove tangible change. Getting to roadtrip with friends from Syracuse, New York to Ontario, Canada, also afforded us the opportunity to detour on a 1000 Islands cruise and explore Boldt Castle, highlighting the adventurous side of presenting human subjects research. As we reflect on this milestone, our biggest lesson is clear: usable privacy and security must be built with, not just for, the communities we serve. Cheers to even more decades of making security accessible to all.
Resources
- Paper: “I’m Stuck!”: A Contextual Inquiry of People with Visual Impairments in Authentication, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90DP0061-01-00).
- Workshop Agenda: SOUPS 2015 - Symposium On Usable Privacy and Security.
- For more photos from the conference, check out Jordan Hayes’ photo album on Facebook.
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