The development of the modern web seems to be a constant trade-off between the give and take of information. Users are expected to give information, give privacy, give access while companies and online resources are expected to give resources, give value and give connection. Of course if one is giving, another is taking.<\/p>\n
Rapid growth of what is possible online now allows us to live much of our life digitally in a way that was only a pipe dream ten or twenty years ago. What began primarily as an information delivery system (reading news articles, checking sports scores, sending email) has evolved over time to be an extension of a much more integrated human experience.<\/p>\n
Along with this development and growth comes the need for data to be tracked. Not only data but also its relation and connection to other data which gives online services a fuller picture of its users, whether or not that picture is completely accurate.<\/p>\n
Correlated data based on online behaviour, website activity and habits such as purchasing decisions, social media posts and banking all work together to create a digital image of an individual.<\/p>\n
We have learned to become accustomed to this like the proverbial frog in the pot of water with the temperature turned up slowly, degree by degree. We only notice how hot the water of online digital tracking has become when we are made aware of it or when we decide to take the temperature.<\/p>\n
Using Lightbeam on Firefox as a way to visualize how all of this data was being tracked based on my digital behaviour was intriguing. Over the course of approximately ten days I was surprised to discover that the sites which tracks and recorded the largest amount of data were three that I would say are not common places I visit online: ebay.com, newyorker.com and foxnews.com.<\/p>\n
Also surprising was the amount of data which was correlated across multiple sites. Seeing some data points with single connection lines to single websites is interesting. Seeing other data points in the middle of a criss cross jumble of multiple connections to multiple sites was very interesting.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I recognize that since Firefox is not my usual browser (I’ll typically use Safari and also Chrome) I found myself thinking differently about my own online behaviour. It isn’t the understanding that data is being tracked which changed my behaviour (since this is already known and understood using other browsers) but more that I knew the tracking would be on display in a visual form.<\/p>\n
A true digital picture of my own tracking online would come through an extended analysis of browsing on Safari, not only on my computer but also on my phone and my kids’ iPad which sometimes gets picked up when other devices aren’t nearby.<\/p>\n
As society’s familiarity with what is possible online combined with our growing demanded for the web to do more for us, the opportunity and need for data tracking will only continue. Ethical conversations will continue as data breaches and theft become more common with greater impact.<\/p>\n
The give and take of user information and user experience will continue on as companies around the world discover new and better ways to convert that data into opportunities to influence human behaviour. The awareness of how we are being tracked and how that information is being used must stay at the forefront of our conversations around future web development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The development of the modern web seems to be a constant trade-off between the give and take of information. Users are expected to give information, give privacy, give access while companies and online resources are expected to give resources, give value and give connection. Of course if one is giving, another is taking. Rapid growth … <\/p>\n