Sharing real-time biometric data across social networks : requirements for research experiments

Abstract

There is growing research interest in exploring how biometric data is and can be shared across online social networks. However, most existing tools for sharing biometric data lock researchers into vendor-specific solutions that cannot be easily adapted to the specific researchers’ requirements, users’ needs and ethical considerations. To mitigate this, we investigate the requirements for open source researcher-oriented biometric data sharing systems. Requirements were captured using: first-hand insights from two prototype deployments, a systematic review of the literature, and interviews with HCI researchers who have built such tools. The requirements thus captured were implemented in the BioShare system and insights from implementing these requirements are presented. BioShare allows users both to share data but also receive inputs from remote viewers of the data in real-time. Concurrently it provides logging capabilities for researchers to analyze system interactions.