Understanding online harms and safety of vulnerable groups going through serious life transitions

Life transitions are times of particular importance in terms of online information sharing and support seeking behaviours. At a time in life when audiences and publics may need to be considered, there is a potential for regretful disclosure and harm. Emotions play a central part in this, during a disruptive time, and it can be difficult to make informed choices. At present, online technologies do not offer passive security and person-centred approaches for diverse populations. Previous research for vulnerable groups is limited for certain populations in usable privacy for life transitions. Designing adaptive Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) can offer individuals a level of personalised support to protect them online when transitioning. We took a codesign workshop approach to build on initial survey findings, to understand online lived experiences of four vulnerable populations: LGBT+; Leaving the military; romantic relationship breakdown; and living with cancer. We identified initial themes from our survey relating to (1) A new normal; (2) Continuum of transitions; (3) Types of information sharing; (4) Impact of information sharing; and (5) Moderating privacy and control. These themes have been applied iteratively to develop our co-design workshops. This study aims to deeper understand related factors and impacts experienced from going through a life transition and online safety. This abstract reports the position of creative design methods which bring a novel approach to understanding vulnerable populations during life transitions to best develop appropriate and meaningful PETs.