Improving Trust Through Usability and UX in Decentralized Applications

RESERVED

The definitions of decentralized identity (DI) and Self-Sovereign identity (SSI) are shaped by the interests of social actors [1]. There is a growing concern over how the term “self-sovereign identity” is used by companies and government-backed initiatives. The ambiguity and lack of common understanding of an SSI lead to a large number of companies using the term for marketing purposes, even when their solution does not involve the necessary principles [2]. With such an approach it might be difficult to convey a trustworthy message about the benefits of decentralized identity to the end users. Many still do not recognize the benefits such a system can provide, resulting in a communication challenge and lack of trust [3, 4]. Additionally, trust in verifiers and other parties is difficult to achieve because there is no feasible way to quantify it. Transparent data flows, confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, non-repudiation, and robustness of the system should be demonstrated to its users to ensure sufficient trust [5]. Usability and user experience (UX) are crucial to facilitate trust, particularly when the user does not have alternative options to the system (e.g., government services). 

This thesis explores the role of usability and UX in facilitating trust for decentralized applications, particularly for DI and SSI, proposes a comprehensive study of design features for such an application, and, as a result, implements those features to a decentralized application and develops an application front-end.  User testing and feedback is an important part of this thesis.

References:

[1] L. Weigl, T. Barbereau, A. Rieger, G. Fridgen, “The Social Construction of Self-Sovereign Identity: An Extended Model of Interpretive Flexibility”, Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS, 2022. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/79649.

[2] J. Sedlmeir, R. Smethurst, A. Rieger, G. Fridgen, “Digital Identities and Verifiable Credentials”, Bus Inf Syst Eng 63 (2021) 603–613. URL: https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2022/is_implement/is_implement/4. 

[3] A. Slavin, “Reimagining Digital ID”, 2023. URL: https://www.weforum.org/publications/reimagining-digital-id/.

[4] F. Ghaffari, K. Gilani, E. Bertin, N. Crespi, “Identity and access management using distributed ledger technology: A survey”, International Journal of Network Management 32 (2022) e2180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/nem.2180.