The readings for this week focus, overall, on dataveillance and on what the term “privacy” means online. To explore that concept further, this prompt asks you to briefly investigate your own data. There are two steps:

  1. Download your Google, Facebook, or Twitter data (I received mine almost instantly upon making the request, but keep in mind that Facebook and Twitter data requests can supposedly take up to 24 hours to process):**
  1. Explore your dataset. In your post, report on your findings by telling us:
  • What dataset you chose to explore.
  • Anything of interest that you found (be specific, but limit this to one or two things). For example, did anything surprise you about your chosen dataset? Did you expect it to include something that wasn’t there, or, vice versa, does it include information you didn’t expect it would? Did anything about how the data was presented to you surprise you or seem interesting? What aspects of this dataset did you find most interesting/revealing/exciting/questionable/etc.? Be specific.

Then analyze these results by discussing their potential implications. For example, what does this dataset tell us about what “privacy” means online? What about “subjectivity” or “subjecthood”? What’s the value in doing an exercise like this? Why should we care? Make sure to incorporate at least one of the readings assigned for this week into your discussion.

** If you don’t use any of these services yet you want to respond to this prompt, let me know as soon as possible.