I logged my data on Tuesday the 21st and decided to aggregate it according to why the data was being captured. Was I logging it on purpose to collect and analyze information about myself? Was I willingly giving it to a company because I want them to do something useful with the data? Or was the data collection a by-product (from my perspective) of whatever I was really trying to do?
Data I deliberately chose to track about myself for the purpose of personal data analysis (most of which gets shared with other entities in the process):
- Heart rate, sleep, and steps were tracked via my smartwatch, which I never take off.
- Daily habits completed were recorded in a habit-tracking app (manual entry).
- Health and wellness information for the day was recorded in an app I built for women’s health tracking (manual entry).
- Time spent on work projects on Tuesday was recorded using HourStack (manual entry).
Data I chose to give to other entities in the hope that they would use it for my benefit:
- Listened to podcasts and music. NPR One app and Spotify track my listening habits and interests to make recommendations.
- Drove to work and choir practice. Car has a device that my insurance company uses to track my driving and (hopefully!) reduce my premium.
- Computer crashed. Chose to send reports to Apple to (again, hopefully) help them resolve issues.
Data other entities tracked as byproducts of my chosen activities (which were not primarily about sharing data)
- Location was tracked throughout the day by my computer and car GPS. I know I could turn this off, but haven’t even though I don’t use it.
- Campus facilities has data on when I entered my access-restricted office using my ID.
- Sent a lot of email. Google has most of this data (for multiple accounts) and Microsoft Exchange has the rest of it.
- Viewed, created, and edited a bunch of calendar events. Google has most of this data, Microsoft Exchange some of it, and iCloud has all of it (from all accounts) synced across my Apple devices.
- Viewed, created, and edited a bunch of documents in Google Drive and on my computer (local docs are all synced to Dropbox).
- Browsed the web for any number of things. Campus network, home network, Xfinity wifi hotspots, and AT&T cell network all presumably have lots of data about my web browsing and other internet usage, some of which is performed by background processes on my phone and computer that I don’t know are happening in the moment.
- I don’t know where they are, but I’m sure there were surveillance cameras at many of the locations I walked or drove through.