"Make the Voodoo Box Go Bleep Bloop:" Exploring End Users' Understanding and Information Needs Regarding Microchips

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Speith, Julian, Becker, Steffen, Speith, Timo, Weber, Markus, Zou, Yixin, Biega, Asia, Paar, Christof
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Speith, Julian
Becker, Steffen
Speith, Timo
Weber, Markus
Zou, Yixin
Biega, Asia
Paar, Christof
author_facet Speith, Julian
Becker, Steffen
Speith, Timo
Weber, Markus
Zou, Yixin
Biega, Asia
Paar, Christof
contents Microchips are fundamental components of modern electronic devices, yet they remain opaque to the users who rely on them daily. This opacity, compounded by the complexity of global supply chains and the concealment of proprietary information, raises significant security, trust, and accountability issues. We investigate end users' understanding of microchips, exploring their perceptions of the societal implications and information needs regarding these essential technologies. Through an online survey with 250 participants, we found that while our participants were aware of some microchip applications, they lacked awareness of the broader security, societal, and economic implications. While our participants unanimously desired more information on microchips, their specific information needs were shaped by various factors such as the microchip's application environment and one's affinity for technology interaction. Our findings underscore the necessity for improving end users' awareness and understanding of microchips, and we provide possible directions to pursue this end.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13749
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle "Make the Voodoo Box Go Bleep Bloop:" Exploring End Users' Understanding and Information Needs Regarding Microchips
Speith, Julian
Becker, Steffen
Speith, Timo
Weber, Markus
Zou, Yixin
Biega, Asia
Paar, Christof
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
Microchips are fundamental components of modern electronic devices, yet they remain opaque to the users who rely on them daily. This opacity, compounded by the complexity of global supply chains and the concealment of proprietary information, raises significant security, trust, and accountability issues. We investigate end users' understanding of microchips, exploring their perceptions of the societal implications and information needs regarding these essential technologies. Through an online survey with 250 participants, we found that while our participants were aware of some microchip applications, they lacked awareness of the broader security, societal, and economic implications. While our participants unanimously desired more information on microchips, their specific information needs were shaped by various factors such as the microchip's application environment and one's affinity for technology interaction. Our findings underscore the necessity for improving end users' awareness and understanding of microchips, and we provide possible directions to pursue this end.
title "Make the Voodoo Box Go Bleep Bloop:" Exploring End Users' Understanding and Information Needs Regarding Microchips
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13749