The ‘Conditional Voice Recorder’. Data practices in the co-operative advancement and implementation of data-collection technology

Stationary voice-controlled systems are installed in an increasing number of households. The devices are operated primarily via voice-user interfaces, which evaluate the spoken commands cloud-based, and are aligned to the principles of interpersonal interaction. This raises questions about the integration of the devices into everyday practices carried out in the household: How is use of Smart Speakers negotiated situationally, embedded in interpersonal interactions, and (how) are aspects of data privacy, data processing and potential exploitation reflected by the users? The project "Un/desired Observation in Interaction: Intelligent Personal Assistants" in the CRC "Media of Cooperation" approaches these questions empirically. However, such an investigation of smart speakers faces the methodological challenge that this requires voice data documenting not only the use of the smart speaker itself, but also the contexts of the use that go beyond mere "voice commands". Therefore, a "Conditional Voice Recorder" (CVR), a technology developed in Nottingham by Porcheron and colleagues (2018), was brought to bear to create audio recordings of usage contexts. These include not only the voice command itself, but also a few minutes before and after the smart speaker is addressed. However, the original device required further technical development to be compatible not only with Amazon's smart speaker model, but also products from other providers (Google and Apple). The paper reflects on this advancement and the implementation of the CVR – i.e. our own research practices – as data practices. On the one hand, it makes visible which (otherwise opaque) data were collected and processed during the advancement, how the usage of the CVR itself is inscribed in the data recorded with it, and which data practices were carried out in the evaluation. On the other hand, it documents the advancement and application of the CVR to enable other studies with it (or similar technologies).