Facilitating secure data sharing between federal agencies.
Problem
xD (an experimental group at the U.S. Census Bureau) develops emerging technologies, including secure methods of data sharing. My team was exploring Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC), a process that would allow data scientists from other agencies to join their own data sets with Census data sets to answer research questions around equity while maintaining the privacy of individual data. Because many data scientists are not familiar with Secure Multi-Party Computation, I was asked to design a user interface that would transform the raw code and process into a trustworthy and easy-to-use interface.
Approach
I first spoke with data scientists at other agencies to gauge their understanding of Secure Multi-Party Computation and interest in joining their data with specific Census data sets. After better understanding their needs and points of confusion, I designed an interface for a simple web application using familiar U.S. Web Design System components. This platform, called SMPC Data Joiner, introduces researchers to the SMPC process, allows them to easily upload data they want to join with Census data, and view the results once they have gone through the appropriate reviews.
Impact
While this project was paused indefinitely due to factors outside of our team's control, I feel confident that the research and design I completed laid a solid foundation for a future team to pick up the work where we left off. I also had the opportunity to advocate for the value of UX and UI in the data science space by demonstrating these designs.
Role
UX/UI designer
Timeline
3 weeks (Fall 2024)
Team
Data scientist ● Project manager
Status
Prototyped
Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) allows federal agencies to share data sets with each other while maintaining the privacy of individual data, but many data scientists are unfamiliar with it.
How might we encourage more data scientists to use SMPC technology?
Process
01/ Learning from data scientists
I wanted to gather context for how non-Census data scientists might use the SMPC process and gather more information about:
The types of data sets they want to work with
How they access those data sets currently and associated challenges
The potential for SMPC to make data access and joining easier
Key findings + design goals
🔎 Participants are excited about using SMPC-eligible data.
Design goal
Translate a complicated process into a clear flow.
🔎Participants are often frustrated by a long review process.
Design goal
Set clear expectations throughout the process.
🔎 Participants are curious about the security of SMPC.
Design goal
Build trust in the SMPC technology and processes.
02/ Translating the SMPC process
Prototyping
With the help of my team, I was able to break down the process as it exists in Python and design corresponding screens that could guide data scientists through choosing a data set to work with, uploading their own data and walking the through the SMPC joining process.
Designs
Setting expectations
Before joining with a Census data set, a banner alerts data scientists about the review process they will have to go through and how long they can expect it to take. A "My joins" dashboard also lets data scientists know the status of joins awaiting review as well as those that are ready to view.
Breaking down the steps
This flow would allow data scientists to select the data set they want to join with, upload their own data, confirm the join and be alerted as each step of is completed without spending time figuring out the back end.
Building trust in the technology
From the Data Joiner homepage, users can learn about how the SMPC process works, using an illustrated example from Google. The more that data scientists understand the process, the more they are able to trust that it is secure.
Reflections
I came to this project knowing very little about Privacy Enhancing Technologies or data science in general. While I was initially worried that my lack of knowledge would be detrimental to the design process, I actually found that it freed me to ask questions until I was able to distill very technically advanced concepts into a format for audiences with varying levels of technical familiarity.