The Dating Market: Programming User Attention and Interaction

Dear UX-community, it’s time for our first event of the year!

Let’s talk about online dating - well, rather the design of its interface. Have you ever wondered how the algorithm matchmaking system or the graphical user interface influences the experience of finding a date?
If you did, you might want to hear even more insights from Jessica Pidoux’ doctoral research.

Jessica will talk about how she combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies from sociology, data science and human computer interaction in order to get a closer look at four actors who have a profound impact on the experience of online dating: graphical interfaces, developers, algorithmic matchmaking systems, and users.

The presentation’s main focus will be set on the analysis of dating platform GUIs based on two types of entities. First, the affordances: They are the possibilities of actions offered to users on the different pages of dating applications. And second, the variables: in particular variables for self-description that serve users for creating a profile in order to present themselves to others and to evaluate their attractiveness. These affordances and variables act as algorithmic inputs that define in advance how to describe oneself and what are the possibilities of finding a potential date.

So if you want to take a deep-dive into the design of online dating experiences as well as getting to know what is currently being researched about, join our next event!

About the guest:
Jessica Pidoux is a sociologist and holds an engineering PhD in Digital Humanities from the EPFL. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in citizen science at CEE, Sciences Po Paris, and director of the Swiss non-profit association PersonalData.IO where she builds data governance models with civil society.

We are looking forward to seeing you on February 10th!
Cheers,
Céline, David, Marie-Aude

Here are more information about the speaker and her research:
Media article in German: Wen „Leute wie wir“ wohl gut finden
https://spex.de/tinder-rueckblick-2010-2019/
More about her work as activist:
https://wiki.personaldata.io/wiki/Project:Dating_Privacy#Presentation
Her articles: bit.ly/3KRQMBv
Twitter: @datingprivacy