Joe Andrieu described and discussed with us this idea of why we might wish to organize and later use our search history for other purposes. Here’s part one (about 4 minutes) and part two (30 minutes) of the IIW12 session on Portable Context. This is a fascinating and functional idea on many levels. It’s “reinventing behavioral tracking by putting individuals in charge.”
The project is seeking community involvement to help build and test the ideas. We’ll be part of it!
Coaching moment: It’s one thing to bookmark a site, but quite another to find that bookmark among your many other bookmarks later on. Even if you have your bookmarks sorted into categories, don’t you sometimes wish you knew which specific page on a site had something you wanted to see later, but couldn’t find? Or sometimes want to sort your history into project threads? Or show someone how you found something? Yes, this project is about that, and more.
We know so little about what’s in our “permanent records” and yet those records can have such a significant impact on what we do–and are allowed by others to do.
The first we might learn about this is in elementary school, when someone threatens us with a mark in our “permanent record.” Most people don’t give their records much thought, believing that certain entries expire. While this may be true (tickets disappear from our driving record after 7 years, and a bankruptcy from our financial records after 10 years. However, we don’t know and often can’t confirm the removal of anything from today’s digital records, since the urge to save data is so strong by people creating the databases, and the cost to save data is so small.
Coaching moment: It’s an informative and practical exercise to take a period of time and create your own digital dossier that says everything about you. Take notes on where you went, what you spent, how long you took and what considerations aided you in making a decision, who you talked with, what you said. Make your notes as detailed as possible, since in some situations your conversations or travels are being monitored by videos.
At the end of your recording period, look back to see what you recorded. Now here comes the fun part: what could someone who didn’t know you misconstrue or misunderstand? What information could be taken out of context and be used in a harmful way?
Remember: it’s not that you don’t have anything to hide. It’s that the power to use your data isn’t in your hands.
“We Live In Public” is an intriguing and scary project that’s not unlike the last few years of “reality” TV. Here’s the trailer:
The comments on this page have a 10 minute trailer that should really shake you.
History should tell you that this scenario is entirely possible in so many ways. As Sebastian points out in his post Context, Privacy and Personas, it’s important to realize where you are, what you’re saying and to whom, and how that setting translates to privacy (or not).
Coaching moment: We’re not used to thinking so deeply about our context. On one hand, it is our unique personality that attracts others. On the other hand, it’s also what makes us easily identifiable. Do you think much about your data (conversations, pictures and videos, etc.) and how publicly it’s shared? We do not have exclusive control over our lives since we trust our data to various service providers, but we can live more mindfully of what we’re saying when.
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