SFB 1187 ›Medien der Kooperation‹ an der Universität Siegen

New CRC Working Paper: “The ‘Conditional Voice Recorder’: Data practices in the co-operative advancement and implementation of data- collection technology”

How is the use of Smart Speakers negotiated situationally, embedded in interpersonal interactions, and (how) are aspects of data privacy, data processing and potential exploitation reflected by the users?

The new publication »The ‘Conditional Voice Recorder’: Data practices in the co-operative advancement and implementation of data-collection technology« in the Working Paper Series (No. 23, Sep 2022), co-authored by Tim Hector, Franziska Niersberger-Gueye, Franziska Petri and Christine Hrncal, focuses on the “Conditional Voice Recorder” (CVR). CVR is a technology, developed in Nottingham by Porcheron and colleagues (2018), which was brought to bear to create audio recordings of usage contexts. This includes not only the voice command itself, but also a few minutes before and after the smart speaker is addressed. Facing the methodological challenge of documenting voice data beyond mere “voice commands”, the paper reflects on this advancement and the implementation of the CVR – i.e. our own research practices – as data practices. On the one hand, it makes visible which (otherwise opaque) data were collected and processed during the advancement, how the usage of the CVR itself is inscribed in the data recorded with it, and which data practices were carried out in the evaluation. On the other hand, it documents the advancement and application of the CVR to enable other studies with it (or similar technologies).

The authors work in the subproject B06 »Un-/desired Observation in Interaction: “Intelligent Personal Assistants” (IPA)« of the Collaborative Research Center 1187 »Media of Cooperation«.

The paper »The ‘Conditional Voice Recorder’: Data practices in the co-operative advancement and implementation of data-collection technology « is published as part of the Working Paper Series of the CRC 1187, which promotes inter- and transdisciplinary media research and provides an avenue for rapid publication and dissemination of ongoing research located at or associated with the CRC. The purpose of the series is to circulate in-progress research to the wider research community beyond the CRC. All Working Papers are accessible via the website or can be ordered in print by sending an email to: info[æt]sfb1187.uni-siegen.de.