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Final Experiment Time!

I started to brainstorm, all the avenues I could go without my larger experiment. In this process I remembered something, I haven’t really touched the Facebook scandal yet. This thought began to shape the context in which my project would sit. 

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I had the pretty productive ideation session this week. It was exciting to see the topic finding its way into possible experiments (finally). I brainstormed numerous avenues I could down and I picked a couple to go forward with over the coming weeks

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After my standstill point g got back to me on some possible directions for my project, but also he gave me this book at check out! This book exposed a different side to data I haven’t seen before. Here are the key points I got out of it!

Public views on data essentially fall into two categories. “Government spying and commercial opportunity” p87 and “Data - as - dollars” p90. Data is undoubtedly useful for selling, but it has potential for so much more. If Big Data’s two running stories have been surveillance and money , for the last three years I’ve been working on a third : the human story 98-100

Each page of a website can absorb a user’s entire experience — everything he clicks , whatever he types , even how long he lingers — and from this it’s not hard to form a clear picture of his appetites and how to sate them: p95-96

Data can show us how we fight , how we love , how we age , who we are , and how we’re changing: p105-106 As the approximations have gotten better and better , and as people have allowed them further into their lives. p131-132

**What are my most used words? reticent teenager in 2014 has written far more in his life than I or any of my classmates had back in the early ’ 90s: p552-553 Your life online is mediated through words . You work , you socialize , you flirt , all by typing: 555-556

What will be possible when someone’s been using these services since she was a child? That’s the darker side of the longitudinal data that I’m otherwise so excited about: pg 2350-2351. Today an eighteen - year - old tacks a picture on his wall , and that wall will never come down . Not only will his thirty - eight - year - old self be able to go back , pick through the detritus , and ask , “ What was I thinking ? , ” so can the rest of us , and so can researchers pg 315-317

It’s just that we stop keeping track . Computers , however , have nothing better to do ; keeping track is their only job . They don’t lose the scrapbook , or travel , or get drunk , or grow senile , or even blink . They just sit there and remember: 323-324

We think to an extent that we are interacting in private. Behind closed doors. p81-82 "The mere act of asking elicits self - censoring”, “But there is one place that doesn’t need to ask for anything , and so the data is set free : With search , there is no ask" . You just tell p1274-1276

Google has become a repository for humanity’s collective id . It hears our confessions , our concerns , our secrets . It’s doctor , priest , psychiatrist , confidante , and above all , Google doesn’t have to ask us for a thing , because the question is always implied in the blank space of the interface : Hey , what’s on your mind ? p1279-1281

The second change is that the Internet has also made everyone a public figure: 1530

If employers begin to use algorithms to infer how intelligent you are or whether you use drugs , then your only choice will be to game the system — or , to borrow the wording from the previous chapter , “ manage your brand . ” To beat the machine , you must act like a machine , which means you’ve lost to the machine . And that’s all assuming you can guess at what you’re supposed to do in the first place: 2355-2357

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Standstill

This week my project hit a bit of a stand still I had all these amazing insights by I couldn’t see how experiments would come out of them. Big data insights don’t often come from designers; they come from data scientists who work with amazing (and complex) data crunching technology. Which at the end of the day I certainly won’t begin to grasp in a semester. Also I don’t actually have the raw data. I have what my phone lets me see and essentially what Im assuming.

I weary of this turning into a Data Viz project, I want product something meaningful and interesting, but at this stage I think Ive been lost in the numbers.

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This documentary revealed a way into my own data! Finally! The documentary showed a journalist going on her own data discovery to find out what people knew or could find out about it. She was showed her apple location logs. Something called frequent locations.

This cross referenced with perhaps phone calls, photos and internet history could start to real a lot about my patterns. 

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Stuart Lacey talks about how we leave a personal waste exhaust of ones and zeros. Hidden in these ones and zeros are dollar signs. 

Your personal data is an asset and it belongs to you, However the world seems to have forgotten about it. Google has quantified your worth (market value). $200 at Google, $115 at Facebook.

So the question lies. If you are not paying for it you are not the customer but the product. So are we being robbed? 

Data Protection Laws are there to ‘protect us’. But in reality this regulatory action is just countered by large Terms and Conditions agreements. So to help us understand they give us all these setting to help customise our permissions? But many off either don’t bother or are blissfully unaware. 

Our children are building there own digital legacies. Even from the moment they are born. Facebook creates shadow profiles of people who don’t even use the service, unborn babies, digital hermits etc.

Lacey claims there is a solution. Disintermediation; get rid of the middle man. It brings people who want something right next to people who want it. For example....

So what if we could connect people who want insights from data with the people who have the data?

Its all about the PII (Personal Identifying Information): Your personal data is not that valuable unless they can connect it to you. Personally identifiable information. Bits of info that might link your data to you. Biometrics, voice print, thumb print. They anonymise your data, then sell it. People use analysis, run AI to find stuff about you to ultimately recompile it to identify you again.

What if I could initiate sharing on demand, my size, style pref, location attributes to a business of my choice and then they can say we have the styles you want in your size for this much.

Your Data can change the future. Its about you monetising your own PII, not someone else; you. Instead of watching maybe we get involved, its a sharing economy. If you have choice, when you act and when you don’t.

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This talk helped me generate what was possible in terms of data collection and the possible insights it could give.

Her Data Package: What data brokers new about her.

Age

Ethnicty

Gender

Occupataion

Postcode

Previous addresses

Family holiday history

Where her family grocery shopped

What she read

How many holidays

What type of house you live in

Interests (i.e movies and startups)

Why holidays (friends, leisure)

I’m about to buy…. clothes, holidays

Salary

What you own, tv etc

Subscriptions

Travel patterns

Do you cook or eat out

Favourite foods

Children

Where you usually buy

Did you like housework? have a cleaner?

friday pubs

are you more likely to be browsing… this or this

Are you swayed by others views.

These set of characteristics and attitudes thoughts and desire, come very close to defining us as people. It is also a precise and accurate description of what data trackers know about me. They don’t know my name but they know more about me then my neighbours do.

Data brokers: Collect, package and sell detailed profiles of individuals based on there online and offline behaviours. Data is a profit lead system designed to record our interactions.

When Data is combined with public information like land registry, council tax, voter information along with my shopping habits and real location. These benign data sets begin to real a lot. Whether you are optimistic, political or a risk taker. Ultimately we have become a product.

Data protection laws mean data has to be stripped of personal identifiers, name, insurance number. Personal data is anything that can be directly traced back to you with no other additional information. It doesn’t mean it can’t be sold on. It means they need your permission. PData: Credit Card Number, Bank Statement, Criminal Record.

Online anonymity is a myth: Postcode, Date of Birth and Gender can be tardily freely without your permission because they aren’t considered personal but synonymous. They can’t be traced without add info.

Case Example: Why does it matter? Health records released anonymously. Cross referenced with voter records to accurately pinpoint people. Sent Governor his own one. 7:22

Case Example 2: Cambridge Analytica: Was tasked with winning the election for Donald Trump. They planted cookies to track people around the web logging every website visited, every search term typed, ever video watched. They also created a viral Facebook quiz to dig into peoples personalities, which was taken by over 6 million people. In total they managed to amass data on 220 million voting Americans. With average of 5,000 pieces of data on each person. They then used this data to understand peoples inner feelings and then targeted adverts to them on Facebook. Is this Data Propaganda?

It isn’t just large companies, its free apps and startups too. Location tracking doesn’t just come from Google maps but a host of unrelated services as well.

Does voice recognition, does it listen constantly? Anecdotal reports of people seeing adverts about products they have been discussing in real life. Are they ease dropping?

Data isn’t all bad; large data sets can be used for good; public health, transport etc. **Uber pothole thing

Some people claim they don’t care about being unmasked? Think again. Targeted ads may be harmless but connecting disparate aspects of your life to predict your future. Can lead to unexpected consequences. What price you pay for home or car insurance? All based on data.

For example for fit, bit measures your pathway or gate patterns. This info can be used to estimate things like your height, weight and gender. This is hard to mimic or change. The data is no longer about you it is you.

The future is Prediction though data: Are you a trustworthy driver? employee? or a good credit risk?

Its unrealistic to become a digital hermit, to stop using social media, navigation apps etc. Its now a part of modern life we cherish and need. Is the knowledge itself empowering? Knowing how my data is cleared and suggested made me more careful of where I put it. Stop signing up for ‘free’ services, check app settings, change permissions. When we realise our data footprint, take back custody of it. Could we be paid for our data, in order to regain control.

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Your smartphone is leaking your information | Bram Bonné | TEDxGhent

Connecting to wifi leaks location information. Your smartphone sends out its location data to anyone who cares to listen. Its constantly looking for networks that it has connected to in the past. Its send out unencrypted data.

Even the names of wifi you use can be quite revealing in themselves. Whats your name? What restaurants do you use? Where do you travel? 

Every wifi spots location is plotted. People called Wardrivers drive around and plot wifi locations into a GPS database. Cross reference database with phones = locations.

Open Networks like McDonalds free wifi etc. They require no password which makes them very easy to pose as. Your phone is constantly looking for the nearest connection; so if its sending out Is “McDonalds” free wifi around? A laptop can say sure! yes, connect to me. Its illegal, but you can do it. You can become the internet for this person, getting there emails, Facebook messages etc. Intercepting the data, viewing and modify the data.

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This week we pitched our self initiated briefs to the class. I decided to move together with the area of big data, I was to unpack and explore our ability to draw insights from our own data. Could data be less scary and more meaningful?

Feedback: It was clear in my feedback that quite a few people were unaware, perhaps blissfully of the types of data that was being collected on us. Some people thought I meant internet history alone. Or frankly had no idea what I was on about. Which was to be honest a little concerning because I could almost guarantee that almost all of them had agreed to various terms and conditions and permissions having no idea what it would/could be used for.

This left me with the following questions:

Is a data education needed?

How do people interact with data?

What does data know about me?

Is data a cheat sheet mentality, do only certain people know about it?

I decided to tackle the ‘What does data know about me?’ first. For me to truly understand this topic and its power I essentially need to private investigate myself. Find out what insights I can draw from my own data? and also where I find my data in the first place. 

I also decided to change my timeline for next week. I think this project works better in an experimental manner. I want to explore different ways of interacting/discovering data. Whatever those may be.

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During the brainstorm G mentioned an article (http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/02/07/google-tracking-you-tucker-carlsons-report-silicon-valley-surveillance-capitalism) about how your phone was constantly uploading data about you, even without a sim card or wifi/cell connection. Which was admittedly quite freaky but also extremely intriguing to me. I’m fascinated about how data fits and informs design and user experiences. 

I have only really thought about big data in terms of advertising, it’s quite obvious and you can see it happening. Ill go on a website, click around; head back to Facebook and an ad showing me those items will be there. Its all automated.

The idea of automation is another interesting one, automatic processes aim to take the labour out of tasks make our lives easier. Things like predictive text, chat bots; even google now providing me with 3 automatic responses to an email I receive. This is all very cool for people who avidly are interested in technology but for people like my mum. Older people. It goes straight over there heads. Features that aim to help them, by making complicated experiences easier often go unused because they don’t know they are there in the first place. Tech features can often have a bit of cheat sheet mentality, you have to find them to be able to use them. 

While brainstorming all of this something became apparent. People have very different opinions of what role big data should play. Some people find it amazing how technology can do this. Others don’t want a bar of it. So when does it become creepy or intrusive and when is it helpful? 

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Final Video

Website Design was something I had always wanted to do but never had the chance to fully explore in its all its complexity. Responsive Web Design was something I had never ever heard of let alone attempted.  Although I was aware of the concept in principle; in name and complexity I had no idea what it entailed. It was a whole new world, a very technical and quite different one at that. It proposed a whole new way to think about design. Our designs were no longer static but elements that would need to move an adjust to suit the screen. 

I found Keryn's weekly powerpoints extremely helpful for getting my head around this field. Especially at the beginning; I did a fair bit of reading about the topic. I wanted to up skill myself on the patterns, principles and approaches that others took to this complex part of design. My key take aways from this were on how to use a grid to align content and also the advantages of working constantly in mobile. It was suggested to design first in mobile but this didn’t work for us. Instead we took the essence of this idea and constantly checked all elements our in the smallest viewport throughout the process. This allowed me to check how the content would work on all devices throughout the project. I Also I found some key resources about typography; which taught me about smaller margins on mobile and how line widths and text can be resized. 

Our Goal:

We wanted to pick a social issue that had a good amount of depth to it. A complex issue that effected New Zealanders. Childhood Obesity was the best fit. It is a huge issue in NZ effecting many people each of us know. We felt that the facts and figures for this issue were abundant on the internet but practical ways this information could be used wasn’t. We came across Empower; an organisation who provides a programme to Schools across New Zealand, educating children about healthy eating. There website currently: (empowerkids.org.nz) was essentially an extended About Us page.  The information on the site was only saying what they did (in words, photos), but not showing it in practice. We wanted to bring the essence and purpose of the organisation to life through interactive content resources for both parents and children. 

This of course gave us to personas; a parent and child. This balance of making a website that would appeal to both without putting the other off was our biggest struggle especially in the case of the homepage. We struggled for quite a while to find a homepage that was sophisticated enough for adults but not boring for kids, and fun enough for kids but not off-putting for adults. In situations like this one class feedback and user testing really guided us through these problems. The constant feedback allowed us to re-evaluate and refine our design constantly. The changes weren’t drastic, we were able to fine tune our ideas into ones that not only looked good but were functional and met our personas needs. It also gave us forced deadlines, we had to have something, anything to show at the end of class. This way we didn’t fall behind and keep up with the pace of the class. In the end as a result of this process I feel as if our homepage was effective in its layout. The avocado animation draws the children to a specific part of the website, guiding their user journey directly to the kids page. While the overall homepage communicates who the organisation is and the snippets of the other pages which allows for easy navigation. 

Working Relationship:

Again on this project I worked with both Luke and Zoe. Our dynamic was easier to manage now as we were used to how one another operated. We decided to divide the main pages up from the get go with everyone working on there individual sections. Luke did the About Us page, Zoe focused on the Kids page; While I was in charge of the Learn More Page. 

  The Learn More page was a page targeted at parents. It aimed to put the principles and knowledge that empower teaches to children, also in the hands of their parents. As this was a new page it  came with a lot of added complexity. I had write all my own body copy which required a significant amount of research into the issue. Although tedious it proved extremely useful as I provided myself with a well established base of knowledge to draw upon for this project. I wanted the page to be informative but practical. It was important to have tips and recipe sections on the page, these allowed parents to be presented with not only the stats of the issue but how they can make a difference in their everyday lives, in their homes. This practical nature is the essence of what Empower is about so it was important to translate this into the type of content on the website. 

We also didn’t want to website to feel all ‘doom and gloom’. Obviously obesity is a serious issue but we wanted to present in a light that made people want to change, gave them a sense of hope that preventing this doesn’t have to be complicated or hard; that they can improve the healthy of their home easily.

A big part of this was to do with the look of our website. Both Zoe and I worked on the illustrations for the various pages. We both have a a similar style of vector illustration, so creating characters and hero images for the pages was a lot of fun for us both. The illustrations providing a light hearted fun style with worked for both personas. The Kids page had bigger fruit images whilst the other pages displayed families and classrooms etc. For pages like Learn More we mixed in photos as well, this was an important part of our design as it provided a sense of reality and realness to our content.   

Overall, this has to be my favourite project. The project I am most happy with thus far. Responsive web design was challenging and fun; it again changed my design methods for the better. Forced me to think and create in a new way, which is always exciting for me. The complexity of content and of dual personas I felt pushed us to create a exciting, an informative website.

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Final Kids Page Screens

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Final About Us Screens:

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Final Homepage Screens:

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Learn More Final Screens:

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Mobile Navigation:

The last element left to complete was the mobile navigation. We opted for a slide out menu. This menu displayed the main sections as well as the sub sections.

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Prototyping: 

Although we weren’t using webflow for this assignment we wanted to find a way to show how the pages would resize. We came up with the idea of using the same art-board but with white bars to change the viewport. Setting up our files this way allowed us to prototype and animate the changes in principle.