Tor and Censorship - User Research Plan
User Research Plan
Goals
Discover and document how people are finding ways to bypass censorship in censored countries.
Audience
- Human Rights Defenders in Censored Countries
- Internet Users in Censored Countries
Recruitment
- User should access to Internet either through mobile or desktop
Previous Research
Methodology
- This is will be an online, open-ended interview, moderated by at least two persons on the side of the interview (moderator, note-taker).
Activities
Scenario: access your a censored news website, browse it, then access the same website using the service user usually do when needs to access a censored website.
Description
Suggested Time
1h30
Materials Needed
- Internet
- Computer (note-taker and interviewer)
- Webcam/mic
Outline and timing
1.Introduction to the session
Intro
Hi XX, Thank you for talking to us today! We've been following the recent events in $country with concern, and wish to support you when it comes to accessing Internet.
In this conversation, we want to go through two steps. First, we want to ask you some demographics questions - so we can better understand how you use Tor Services. Then we will move to some questions about what's going on in $country.
Please, feel free to say and ask anything about this process and Tor. We are here to answer your questions too! Also, if you want to stop this conversation at any moment, just let us know!
2. Activity
Q1 We saw in the news that because of recent political events, there was an Internet Shutdown in your country, how was that for you? What do you remember about this day? (ice-breaking question, to understand user needs)
Q2 Were you able to access the Internet those days?
- [YES] How so?
- [NO] Did you talk to anyone about it? What were the measures you take to access the internet or to understand the problems?
Q3 Besides those moments, what are the challenges you face when accessing the Internet? And social media?
Q4 Do you use a VPN?
- [YES] Which one? [...] Why did you choose this one? Do you have any problems when using a VPN? Like, connectivity issues?
- [NO] How do you access websites that are censored in your country? Or social media?
Q5 Can we move to accessing the Internet through Tor browser? [...] If you're using a VPN, please turn it off, then access torproject.org [if user succeeds accessing TB without a VPN, then download, install, and browser a news website; if not, then move to a mirror and repeat]
3. Debriefing
Report Findings
Attachments
Attachment
- Demographics questionnaire
- Interview script