Category: data log

In approaching this data log, I first tried to think about what qualifies as data “created by me.” I decided that this data would have to be recorded as a result of my activities, or continuously in the background regardless of my actions (i.e. apps collecting background information).

12 am: Pay for dinner

Order recorded in restaurant system & credit card transaction recorded by restaurant as well as my bank

1:30 am – 7 am: Drive to Boston

Spotify saves data on music listened to, songs skipped

Google Maps saves data on my route, how fast I’m driving, when I stop

EZPass stores time, location data on my transponder each time I drive under an electronic tolling station

Gas stations record credit card transaction, amount of fuel used to fill tank, type of gasoline used

Car records mileage and speed, and uses these to calculate real-time fuel efficiency

Longer term, I’m contributing to broader carbon emissions data

7 am: Enter dorm

Scanner records MIT ID number, security camera records entering the dorm and allows security guard to verify identity before allowing access

Turning lights on and off – recorded by energy companies

2 pm: Wake up, get ready

Phone records number of times snooze is hit before alarm is disabled

Amount of water used to brush teeth, shower, etc. is recorded by utilities companies

3 pm: Do laundry

Amount of water used recorded by utilities companies

Time machine is started and length of cycle stored in LaundryView tracking system

4 pm: Work on computer

Documents on Microsoft Office & Google Docs save versions at various times, file sizes, word counts

Texts/messages/Snapchats saved on servers, along with time and recipient data

Websites save data on page views & IP addresses

Google searches saved to optimize future search results

9 pm: Walk to meeting

Phone records number of steps taken/equivalent flights of stairs climbed, as well as location changes

11 pm: Watch TV on computer

Number of views, points where program is paused/skipped/rewinded are recorded by xfinity

I broke down the data recorded by device, as most of the data I generate during the day is through my use of electronic devices. An “Others” category at the end shows any data I generated by other means.

Phone/Tablet

• Alarm Time: I use my phone’s alarm to wake up. The phone stores the alarm time, and possibly as well the number of times I snooze my alarm.
• Email: One of the main things I do throught the day is use my email, either on phone or on my laptop. This records the emails I send, receive or delete.
• App usage: Both phone an tablet record the apps that I use every day, as well as the time I spend on each.
• Reading interests: I frequently use the Reddit app and the BBC News app in my phone/tablet to read content online. Hence, which stories/posts I read are recorded.
• Location: My android devices passively record my location throught the day.
• Messaging: When and what the contents of the messages I send throught the day, usually through apps like Facebook.

Laptop

• Browsing History: Most of my internet browsing (either because of work or lesuire) is done on my laptop. My browser will record the pages I visited, and possibly how long I spend on each site.
• Download History: As well, both the browser and my downloads folder will have a record of the files I downloaded.
• TV Show tracking: I use an online service to track the TV Shows I am currently watching.

Other

• Credit Card History: When I use my cards through the day, that will create a record of what I bought and when.

 

Nearly everything we do that interacts with technology is logged and recorded somewhere – either personally or by the company that owns the technology.

• Emails – Sent a few emails during the day.

• Messaging – Sent messages through Facebook Messenger, Slack, and iMessage.

• Internet – Responded to a Google docs IM sports survey, completed Doodle for 18.657 office hours. Browsed the internet adding to my search history. 

• Work – Printed and read papers for my UROP.

• Payment – Used credit card to pay for an Etsy purchase, dinner, and an Uber. Recorded by bank and credit card company. Charged people on Venmo for meal from a few days ago. 

• Games – Played Pokemon Go. App records location and event data to send to Niantic.

• Exercise/Health – Ran 1.5 miles, treadmill also displayed time spent running and calories burned. Fitbit recorded steps, sleep quality, etc.

• ID – Used my student id to swipe into dorms and to print from an Athena cluster.

The types of digital data collected throughout 2/13/17.

• Location/travel: Facebook messenger’s location services track where my messages were sent from, and Uber receipts show that I traveled into Boston. MIT ID taps log when I entered my dorm and when I ate dinner in the dining hall
• Health: Fitbit tracks my heart rate, active minutes, calories burned, steps walked, etc. It also registered my morning workout and categorized the type of exercise I did. The treadmill recorded my pace and distance.
• Spending: Credit card data shows what I’ve spent (and it hints at what I ate). Venmo transactions record the payments I made for brunch
• Email: timestamps stored in Gmail show when I was received/opened/responded to emails
• Internet history: Chrome internet history remembers the web pages I visited
• Text messages: texts record who I interacted and the plans I made with friends for the upcoming days
• Calendar events: Google calendar stores my schedule for the day
• Computer downloads: these reflect the homework/readings I downloaded during the day
• Entertainment: iOS Game Center records when I opened mobile games and Spotify history shows when I listened to music (and what sort of mood I was in)

10:20am Browsed WeChat and Instagram.
10:35am Replied messages from my mom and friends.
10:45am Looked for dorayaki recipes from my phone.
10:55am Read emails; created notes.
2:30pm Wrote emails.
5:00pm Watched online lecturers and took notes.
6:00pm Looked for smoothie recipe online and saved some of them.
8:00pm Searched for flight tickets for summer from Expedia and saved the search results to compare later.
9:00pm Accepted meeting invitation and added it to Google calendar.
9:20pm Wrote Data Log.
9:30pm Took screenshots of some restaurants from Yelp and sent them to friends.
9:35pm Looked for dorayaki recipes again. Saved one to my phone.
9:40pm Finished the data log and submitted it.

• Google Maps- Tracked route driven and how long it took us. We also used it to look up nearby restaurants (that we didn’t end up going to) so it also collected data on which restaurants we were considering and the fact that we didn’t go to any of them.
• Ski Rental Shop– Collected name, height, weight, and skiing experience level when renting skis.
• Google Search History- Recorded time, search query, and any links followed from search.
• Bank of America- Recorded every credit card transaction (time, amount spend, retailer, location).
• Waterville Valley Ski Resort- Recorded time we picked up our lift passes and scanned our lift passes’ barcodes before we got on each lift, meaning they know exactly when we rode each lift. Also recored our names, addresses, emails, and birthdates.
• Whenisgood- Recorded my schedule for the next week.
• Gmail- Recorded what emails I got, when I opened them, when I responded, what I gave labels or marked as spam, etc.
• Facebook- Tracked my location and what content I viewed on my newsfeed. Recorded when I liked a photo and who’s photo it was.
• Snapchat- Recorded my location and what snaps I sent and received. Also recorded temperature and altitude data. It also noted which Snapchat users were nearby.
• Android- Recorded my phone’s battery use and network connectivity status. Also recorded which apps were opened, how long they were opened for, and how much storage/battery they used, as well as my location.
• Google Photos- Uploaded photos taken on my phone and their associated metadata to the cloud.
• Messenger- Recorded what messages I sent and received, their contents, and their times. It also tracked photos taken on my phone and my location.
• Chrome- Recorded what websites I visited, how long I spent on them, and what links I clicked on them.
• MIT RFID readers– Records what time I tapped into my dorm and my club’s office on campus.
• Dorm Desk Package Tracking- What time I picked up my package from my dorm’s front desk was recorded.
• MIT Campus Security Cameras– Cameras likely tracked a majority of my movements around campus, including entering my dorm.
• New Hampshire Highway System– Collected pictures of our license plates when we passed through the toll booths.
• Shaw’s Parking Garage- Recorded what time it issued ticket and thus what time we entered the parking garage.
• Rental Car- Tracked and recorded gas status, mileage, among other variables.

As a technology user, I generate mountains of data every day (often without realizing it). In this post, I will catalog all of the data that I manually generated, as well as the portion of automatically-generated data that I am aware of.

Time	My Action	Data Collected
Throughout Day (every few minutes)	Having Google App on iPhone	GPS location
Throughout Day	Having Apple Health App on iPhone, using iPhone as alarm	Number of steps, distance walked, number of stairs climbed, time asleep (viewable in health app)
Throughout Day	Sending/Viewing Messages and Emails (usually from iPhone)	Email contents, timestamps, location where I sent it from, read receipts
Throughout Day	Google Searches, Web Use	Search/Browsing History, Clicks (primarily Google/Facebook for Ad targeting)
9:30am, 10:00am	Told Alexa (Voice Assistant) to turn on/off the lights and play/stop Phoenix Radio on Pandora	Voice print info and requests (Amazon), station played and specific songs played (Pandora)
11:55am-12:20pm	Took an UberPOOL	Timestamped route, price, and passenger rating (Uber), money spent (Visa/Bank of America)
12:20pm-12:40pm	Lunch at Manoa Poke Shop	Order info, card info
12:40pm-2:59pm	Working in Google Docs and accounting in Wave	All edits (Google Docs), data export request (Bank of America), imported data (Wave Accounting), all annotations (Wave), usage logs (Apple Laptop)
2:59pm-3:18pm	Ordered UberX	Timestamped route, price, and passenger rating (Uber), money spent (Visa/Bank of America)
3:18pm-4:39pm	Got Coffee with a Friend in Boston	Security footage in shop, Payment
4:40pm-5:05pm	Took MBTA Green Line from Park Street Station	CharlieCard Used at station (MBTA)
Night	Working on Computer	More tracking from Google (Docs, Chrome, Search, Inbox), Pandora music listening, taking handwritten notes on Samsung tablet (automatically uploaded to Dropbox)

Now all this data begs the question: How is it used?

Activity Captured in Digital Form
February 12, 2017

• Meal Swipes – Captured every time I swipe my card into a dining hall
• Physical Activity – Fitbit captures heartbeat, number of steps, etc. throughout the day
• Emails – Apple Mail on my desktop syncs with the mobile Outlook app to keep track of which emails I’ve read and sent
• iPhone App Usage – Records percentage of battery usage each mobile app takes up
• Facebook Messages – Website and Messenger app tracks which messages I’ve sent and read
• Card Access – Captured every time I tap my MIT ID into a room or building
• Internet – Browsing history saved on browser or to Google account
• Logins – Captured every time I login to a website
• Google Drive – Tracks new uploads and changes to files
• Dropbox – Tracks new uploads and changes to files. Desktop version syncs with online version
• TripAdvisor – Website probably tracks which location webpages have been visited
• Credit Card – Captured every time I purchase something using a credit card
• Find My Friends – App tracks GPS location

• ID swipe for dining hall
• Sent text messages
• Used FaceTime
• Responded to email
• Browsed internet which added to my browsing history
• Tapped ID to enter dorm
• Updated Linkedin profile
• Liked images on Facebook
• Used Athena Cluster to print a problem set
• Downloaded files needed to complete a SolidWorks tutorial
• Received Venmo payment
• Used terminal commands to complete 6.S08 assignment
• Entered my name is the 6.S08 online queue to get help during office hours
• Submitted my code for automatic checking on the 6.S08 website
• Complete CMS.631 blog post