Ways to Capture User Activity
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
In order to generate more content and results for the GoLogle project i need to consider new ways or extending and gathering more information. Considering ways to either silently gather information or to ask users to provide data willingly.
I have now included on this blog a referring search engine logger which now add to the existing log database users referring search terms(if they land on this site from a search engine link), this web plug-in could be introduced into a number of sites to record data when users land on any of a websites pages, making the range of participants much greater.
Other possibilities for gathering user data.
- Provide an online form to gather more information
- Create a FireFox plug-in to gather users activity
- Introduce the web plug-in into more web pages to widen the participant range
The GoLogle project is now up and running on Facebook and is available at: http://apps.facebook.com/gologle/
Generating Art from the User Data
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
GoLogle has been live for over 3 weeks now, and the database is filling continually at a nice steady rate.
I’ve started to think of ways to display/toy with this information, creating a way of revealing the data back to the user. So far i have created a flash application that pulls in all previous searches and creates keyword entities. As these entities reveal they begin to float in cyberspace merging to form words or shapes.
Below i have included a few of the examples that i have created. Alternatively click here to launch a live flash example.
GoLogle Evolution Step 1
GoLogle Evolution Step 2
GoLogle Evolution Step 3
The Big ‘G’
Footsteps
Big Brother
Identity
GoLogle Tag Cloud
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
So the GoLogle project has been running for just over a week and a half now and the gathering of anonymous data sets seems to be going well. I would like to say a thanks to all of those who have participated/contributed to the project so far, it’s been a great help and has made it possible to gather real life data.
GoLogle Tag Cloud
A mini project that I have been working on using the recorded data is the GoLogle tag cloud. Utilising all of the recorded data from the GoLogle home page and search bar the “GoLogle Tag Cloud“ displays frequent search words along with the full search term used as a way of visualising digital profiling.
Click here to launch the latest version (Still in development so expect errors every now and then).
If you are a user of the GoLogle search page and your IP is discoverable, visiting the tag cloud and clicking on the “Click here to see your ip’s history” will display a version available to your IP, if you have been using the search feature enough you should be able to see patterns emerging defined from your search activity. For example your hobbies, interests, favourite bands, food or the places you shop will begin to emerge becoming more prominent the more you use GoLogle.
Take a look and please feel free to report any bugs or problems that you are experiencing with any of the GoLogle projects. privacymatters@minimalistics.co.uk.
Thanks once again and if you could continue using the GoLogle search page for as long as possible it would be greatly appreciated.
Changing the homepage on Firefox and Safari
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
Continuing from the last setup instructions post below will be instruction for manually setting the home page of your browser. Firefox and Safari are both covered in this post.
If you are currently using Google as your default search engine and homepage simply set GoLogle as a direct replacement.
Firefox
Begin by loading the following web page in a new window - GoLogole Home page.
Once loaded you will need to navigate to the Tools menu item and select Options:
You will then be presented with a pop up window which will look something similar to the one below. Simply click the “Use Current Page” button to set the default home page to the GoLogle home page. Finally click on the ”OK” button to save your changes.
You can now go back to the original Setup guide to continue modifiying your browser. Click here and navigate to the Step 2 section of the article.
Safari
Begin by loading the following web page in a new window - GoLogole Home page.
Once loaded you will need to navigate to the Edit menu item and select Preferences:
You will then be presented with a pop up window which will look something similar to the one below. Simply click the “Set to Current Page” button to set the default home page to the GoLogle home page. Finally click on the ”x” icon to save your changes.
Bug Testing - Browser / System
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
Some of the known bugs which are currently being rectified.
- Set as homepage will not work (this is a browser specific problem, instructions to work around are being made)
All Browsers:
- Quotes commas and special characters are being passed incorrectly
For some reason Apple have decided not to include the “add a new search provider” to their safari browser….. I wonder why! And look who is at the top again…. Google.
Please post in the comments any problems you are encountering.
Regards
Al
The GoLogle Project
Posted by admin | Filed under Project Development
Whats GoLogle and Why?
GoLogle(Go-Log-le) is a net art project set to explore the depths of web surveillance looking primarily at Google and privacy concerns. This area is a growing problem as more and more of our web activity is monitored on a daily basis. Explained better in a visual diagram at the bottom of this page, the project acts as a window before Google’s home page. You enter search terms, GoLogle records this information and then passes you on to Google to show you the results you would normally see.
Do you use Google’s search engine or products? If so you may or may not be aware that Google and other such organisations are tracking your web activity every step of the way. Whether or not we are happy with this web survailance we still continue to use these services.
A major debate online questions Google Inc’s privacy policies and their attitude to data privacy. With the slogan “Don’t Be Evil” how can we be sure that this is not a tactical ploy to reel us in and to make us feel safe? There has to be some motive for giving out free applications and features doesn’t there?
Are these motives for the good of the public, a way to enhance the user’s web experience, or just a sneaky way to increase profitability, hits and above all to gain even more market share?
The final product/outcome for this piece is yet to be decided but will be utilising data from a number of anonymous participants over a spread of time. Keep checking this website for future updates and to see how the project evolves.
Be Part of it!
To join in on the project it takes a matter of minutes to set up your computer. If you are willing to take part in this anonymous project please follow the steps below. To see what data is captured and our terms please read the Privacy Policy and Terms pages on the GoLogle web page.
How to setup GoLogle on your computer
Step 1
Set GoLogle as your homepage
Before you begin the following explanation in step 1 is only supported by Internet Explorer, for other browser explanations on setting up your homepage please click here.
If you are currently using Google as your default search engine and homepage simply set GoLogle as a direct replacement. By visiting the following web page you can access a quick setup option: GoLogole Home page
When the page has fully loaded locate and click on the “Make GoLogle your default home page” link (located just under the search box).
You will be presented with something similar to the image below:
Simply click on the yes button to allow GoLogle as your default Home page.
Step 2
Set GoLogle as your default search engine and mini-search toolbar
The following explanation is supported in Internet Explorer 7+ and Firefox 3+ other browsers may differ:
Most modern browsers include a mini-search bar usually located to the top right hand side. This is used to perform searches by sending your query to the search provider. The example below is based on Internet explorer 7, your browser may be different but should have a similar setup:
Once again making sure you are currently viewing the GoLogole Home page.
Once all is loaded you need to focus your attention to the mini search as explained above. Notice on the browser shown there is a downwards arrow icon, click this to reveal a menu.
You will notice above that the example has highlighted the area you need to navigate to. Simple select “Add Search Providers” and choose GoLogle.
A pop up window will be displayed; something similar to the one shown below:
Ensure that you tick “Make this my default search provider” and then select the “Add Provider” button.
Step 3 (Final Step)
Disable any other toolbars
Supported on most browsers.
To ensure that you make use of the GoLogle project it is advised that you disable any current toolbars that you are running. To do this select the Tools item in your menu, followed by Toolbars, this will provided you with a list of currently running Toolbars, simply uncheck any that need removing, in the example below Google has been disabled (other browsers may vary):
That’s it you’re ready to go.
Please report any bugs or questions to privacymatters@minimalistics.co.uk
Diagram to show how the system works
Click image to enlarge
More Google Based Projects
Posted by admin | Filed under Existing Projects
Google Chat Bot - http://douweosinga.com/projects/googlechatbot
“Use Google talk by entering three or four words below. The system will search for this sentence at Google, find the next word and print that. Than it will remove the first word of the search string, add the found word and repeat. The result seems to be meaningfull sometimes. Other times it is giblish. But always fun.”
Google Groups Art - Example Click here
“Google Groups Art (sometimes called “Google Art”) is a hack that uses/abuses the fact that Google Groups color-highlights searchterm queries within Usenet posts it displays. The result is that color images are generated within the Google Groups (Usenet) posts themselves. Google Art first surfaced in summer 2002. ” Quoted from runme.org
elgooG - http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/index.cgi
Quite simply a backwards Google homepage.
Shmoogle - www.shmoogle.org
Redefining the way the search engines work, annihilating any SEO practices, methods by returning results in a random order.
Google Hactivist and other Related Projects
Posted by admin | Filed under Existing Projects
aqGoogle - Google Art Creator - http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/aqgoogle/
Simply draw your art, click “Make post to Google”, and then copy-and-paste the resulting post into a post to Usenet. Then go searching for it on Google Groups (later, when it’s posted).
GoogleSynth - http://art.gen.nz/index.php?page=gs
GoogleSynth is a software developed by Paul Andrews which generates a synthetic image using data from two other images taken from the Google Image Search engine. The author adapted a piece of code used for texture synthesis which uses the texture of an image and tries to reproduce another one with it, and automated its process of data acquisition to use images taken from the Net.
G2G Share, peer-to-peer through Google Mail - http://www.dutchmega.nl/G2G/
The G2G Share project takes advantage of the Google Mail accounts’ free disk space, using it as a shared file storage. A simple infrastructure is established out of the respective owners’ accounts sharing, indexing the files and so making them searchable. (http://www.neural.it/nnews/g2gsharee.htm)
Montage-a-google - http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/montage-a-google.htm
Montage-a-google is a simple web-based app that uses Google’s image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Not only an interesting way of browsing the net, it can also be used to create desktop pictures or even posters (see examples below - more coming soon).
Guess the Google - http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/game.php?l=5
After creating Montage-a-google, several people wrote to me suggesting I make a game based on the same technology. Montage-a-google is a simple web app that uses Google’s image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking the keywords for you, the player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it’s surprisingly addictive.
Googlewhacking - http://www.unblinking.com/heh/googlewhack.htm
Results of the survey
Posted by admin | Filed under Research
The survey went fairly well, i wasn’t expecting a huge amount of participants but the results show some interesting facts, some of which i anticipated. Below you will see the results from the survey along with the questions that were asked with respondents feedback.
Which search engine do you use the most?
Participants had the option of the following “popular” search engines:
AltaVista, AOL, Ask, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Other, None
I was not surprised that google came out top but i was surprised that it had a 95% win over any other search engine service.
What toolbar if any do you have installed on your browser?
Participants had the choice of the following toolbar providers, along with an optional box to enter any relevant toolbars that i might have missed out.
AltaVista, AOL, Ask, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Other, None
Some of the participants entered other toolbars that they used they are as follows:
Web development
Adblock
Firebug
Stumbleupon
Are you aware that there is surveillance online to track your activity within cyberspace?
Participants were given the option to select yes or no. I was fairly surprised with the results of this as i expected most people to be unaware of the surveillance, i suppose as an after thought the question might have been vague as we don’t really get to see what type of surveillance these people know about.
If you answered yes to the previous question does this bother you?
I included this question after the previous question “Are you aware that there is surveillance online to track your activity within cyberspace?”. As the results below indicated most people are concerned with the amount of surveillance online.
Before using or signing up to a website, do you read the privacy statement?
This surprised me more than any of the results, i wasn’t expecting anyone to say they actually read the privacy policies of websites. 4 participants claimed that they read privacy policies but i suppose there could be some confusion / difference in the way the participants class “reading” the privacy policy. The problem with most website are the Privacy Policies are usually located to the bottom of the page and normally a missed area of a website.
Please give the reason for your answer to the previous question
After asking participants if they read privacy policies online i asked them to explain their reasons for choosing to read or not read the statements. I found from some of the participants responses that they may not actually know a privacy policy is, for example:
To check out what your signing up for
I wouldn’t really consider this a good answer or understanding to what the privacy policy covers.
Some more of the participants responses:
Want to make sure I do not get spam and email address circulated where it is not wanted
Not enough hours in the day
Just tick the box and ignore the info!
Waste of time
Takes too long
I just assume it is a standard statement, I did read one once and it was very boring!
To check what they are upto, for example Google Chrome used to be licensed so if you submit any work via it, Google own your work…..
No time
Cant be bothered
I dont sign up to dodgy websites
Would you feel comfortable providing me with your online activity/history?
This would include the websites you visited, search terms, time of day and your location?
Giving the participants the choice to choose yes or no i not surprised at the results, the survey showed that people actually do mind giving out there personal information, but yet they still choose to use services such as google toolbar and google search, which all log this kind of information. This opens up a good area for me to explore as some participants were willing to give their details to me. This could be used in the project.
Please give the reason for your previous answer
Most participants entered something here and it gives a good insight into why participants are not happy giving out information. Surprisingly a few people didn’t know that their history is being tracked on their own machine.
I don’t have the time to log my activity
I would suspect from this answer the user is unaware of the history tracking in their browser.
Other participants said:
only if I have the time to do it
not sure i know how to get you this info
The world must never know about my panda fetish
I don’t have the time to log my activity and i wouldn’t want to tell other people what i was doing out of principle.
private
this information is personal
My activity would be very boring!
Its private data
HAHA
You dont need to know
When filling out a form online (e.g. making a purchase or registering to a website) do you:
- Fill out all fields even if they are not required
- Fill out only the required fields and leave the optional ones blank
- Fill out all of the required fields and some optional ones
Surprisingly the results show that people do give away information about them selves that’s not even required.
Conclusion
In conclusion to my sample research its clear from my findings that my thoughts were correct. Google is by far the most used provider for search engine and toolbar. Privacy is obviously a hot topic as people are concerned about the surveillance of their activities online, and are not really willing to give away “personal” information. I also ran a small experiment within this survey to see how many people would openly give out their email addresses and publish it to not only the web but to me and the website provider. Out of the 21 participants 7 were happy to provide their email address. Again some of the participants my have felt safe giving their email address out as they are friends or family but not all participants were.
Gaining valuable participants
Posted by admin | Filed under Research
In order for my research survey to work i need to gather as much information as i can using a fairly large number of participants. To do this i sent out numerous requests via email, MSN messenger and posting this on the website.
Hi, If you have a spare moment please could you fill out this short questionnaire and answer all questions truthfully. It would be much appreciated if you could also pass this link on. You don’t have to sign up and all of the information is anonymous. http://tigersurvey.com/survey.php?survey=7990
Thanks for your time
Alan Bourne - Project Site
http://www.minimalistics.co.uk/idat/privacy/
If you would like to post this message anywhere or email it to anyone you know please do as this will help provide a bigger and more quantative set of results.