This assignment is to be completed individually.
Instructions:
Assignments are an "open ended applications of the work that we have done in the rest of the course presented as a web-written document. These are typically about 1500 words each, plus visuals."
Building on the exercise we did in week 5 with Google takeout, your task is to identify a platform or app which collects data about you. This platform should be one for which you are able to initiate a "one-button" request for your data. (NB: I do not want you to scrape your own data, even if you know how).
Here are some examples of platforms on which such an option is available. The rules and formats for such data downloads change often. As is the case with Google takeout it can take some time to get this data, so plan ahead!
Twitter | Facebook | Whatsapp | WeChat | Instagram | Uber | Spotify | Slack | Discord | Reddit | Soundcloud | Tiktok | Apple ID (for Apple apps) | Health | Yelp | Skype |
You can use other sources of platform data, but check with your instructor first.
Format:
Once you have requested (and received) this data, you should find a way to show your reader a small portion of this data without revealing any private information (this could be in the form of screenshots with anything personal rubbed out or with fields removed). Do not post your whole dataset openly online.
Accompanying this "dataset" is a web-written assignment of about 1500 plus visuals. The visuals can be a combination of data visualization and or other methods. Please try at least two graphical representations (one can be hand drawn, if you prefer) .
Guiding questions (you do not need to answer all of these):
Explain your choice of platform. What kinds of activities are you doing on it?
Are you a light, medium or heavy user of the platform? For what percentage of the time you have used it are you able to retrieve the data?
How easy is the data to retrieve? Were there obstacles? Did you try getting your data from one platform and then switch to another because of difficulties?
What kinds of data did you get? What kinds of formats? What was your reaction? Were you underwhelmed like this writer?
What kinds of patterns can you find in the data? spatial? temporal? color? metadata?
Look for the Terms and Conditions of this platform where they explain how they process this data.
What was missing from the data to help you contextualize it better? Are your data alone meaningful or does it need to be combined with others?
What do you think that the platform economy does with your individual data that serves their purposes?
What kind of analysis would you like to do with the retrieved data that you don't know how to do yet?
When you have completed your assignment, please put "ready for grading" and the date at the bottom of the page.