I spy Party Planning Committee, Finer Things Club, & Here Comes Treble!
July 8, 2013 1:42 PM Subscribe
Immersion is a tool from the MIT Media Lab that analyzes the metadata from your Gmail account, displaying a beautiful visualization of the networks of people you contact most frequently.
Site is under strain right now, but keep trying - it's worth it!
You may also enjoy WolframAlpha's Facebook tool.
Site is under strain right now, but keep trying - it's worth it!
You may also enjoy WolframAlpha's Facebook tool.
. . . Lab that analyzes the metadata
a lot of that going around these days . . .
posted by Think_Long at 1:50 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
a lot of that going around these days . . .
posted by Think_Long at 1:50 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm still waiting for this to load, but I have a feeling it's going to break down into a few major groups:
1) Hey, remember when you were in college!?
2) Hey, remember all those ex boyfriends!?
3) Hey, are you aware your grandma forwards you 70 emails about jesus every day!?
4) YOUR BILL IS DUE IN 3 DAYS.
posted by phunniemee at 1:57 PM on July 8, 2013 [12 favorites]
1) Hey, remember when you were in college!?
2) Hey, remember all those ex boyfriends!?
3) Hey, are you aware your grandma forwards you 70 emails about jesus every day!?
4) YOUR BILL IS DUE IN 3 DAYS.
posted by phunniemee at 1:57 PM on July 8, 2013 [12 favorites]
Well, that was annoying. It won't let you access it from a mobile browser, it pushes you to use Chrome. Sheesh. You'd think the MIT Media Lab would know a little something about the ubiquitousness of mobile browsers.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:58 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:58 PM on July 8, 2013
They're apparently slammed with heavy traffic. It also looks like the WA link goes to the Immersion page again.
posted by aught at 1:59 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by aught at 1:59 PM on July 8, 2013
estlin, the second link in the OP is the same as your first.
posted by trip and a half at 1:59 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by trip and a half at 1:59 PM on July 8, 2013
Yeah, sorry guys, have used the contact form to request that link be fixed. Sorry for the frustration on both fronts!
posted by estlin at 2:01 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by estlin at 2:01 PM on July 8, 2013
I just realized that over the last year or so, my Facebook report would be more accurate than my e-mail analysis as far as 'who I interact with more' and I'm not sure I like that.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:09 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:09 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Mine would look like a funnel with all interactions pouring into my wife. Wheee!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:11 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:11 PM on July 8, 2013
It doesn't seem to cover GChat...that would be far more useful.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 2:13 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 2:13 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
The demo account is Tony Stark (tony@fict.mit.edu).
Oh, nerds. I love you.
posted by fight or flight at 2:14 PM on July 8, 2013
Oh, nerds. I love you.
posted by fight or flight at 2:14 PM on July 8, 2013
fight or flight: "Oh, nerds. I love you."
We know and we appreciate your friend fiction as well.
posted by boo_radley at 2:16 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
We know and we appreciate your friend fiction as well.
posted by boo_radley at 2:16 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Do they send it to the NSA before, or after analyzing it?
posted by blue_beetle at 2:23 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by blue_beetle at 2:23 PM on July 8, 2013
phunniemee: "
1) Hey, remember when you were in college!?
2) Hey, remember all those ex boyfriends!?"
For me, switching between the "All" and "Past Year" view was particularly telling on this point. And by "particularly telling" I mean "1) a little sad and 2) a goddamn relief" respectively.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:25 PM on July 8, 2013
1) Hey, remember when you were in college!?
2) Hey, remember all those ex boyfriends!?"
For me, switching between the "All" and "Past Year" view was particularly telling on this point. And by "particularly telling" I mean "1) a little sad and 2) a goddamn relief" respectively.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:25 PM on July 8, 2013
I did it and it eventually went to the visualization page, but it was blank. Perhaps it was still loading the data or composing it. I have nine years of email in my gmail account. Not in the inbox, though — except that despite the IMAP presentation, gmail doesn't actually have separate folders. I was wondering if it was only looking in the inbox. Surely not. Don't most people "archive" mail out of their inbox? (Why am I asking this question? When I've looked over the shoulder of other people reading their mail, their inboxes usually have three-thousand messages, mostly spam and links to funny cat videos.)
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:29 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:29 PM on July 8, 2013
After Swartz, I'm honestly surprised that anyone would grant anyone at MIT full access to their email.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:30 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:30 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Man, I did not need to be reminded that my most-liked Facebook status got five likes.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:34 PM on July 8, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:34 PM on July 8, 2013 [6 favorites]
It surely is amazing how many passwords you can get if you promise people a pretty picture.
posted by echo target at 2:36 PM on July 8, 2013 [12 favorites]
posted by echo target at 2:36 PM on July 8, 2013 [12 favorites]
It surely is amazing how many passwords you can get if you promise people a pretty picture.
If you were asked to enter your password, you might be at the wrong site. Did you follow the link in the post above? That one uses Google's application authorization. Maybe go back and check that you followed the correct link?
posted by eyeballkid at 3:41 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
If you were asked to enter your password, you might be at the wrong site. Did you follow the link in the post above? That one uses Google's application authorization. Maybe go back and check that you followed the correct link?
posted by eyeballkid at 3:41 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
If you were asked to enter your password, you might be at the wrong site.
But by giving this app the permission to view all of your emails, it will get access to any passwords or other sensitive information that was emailed to you by other, less security conscious entities.
Not that I didn't totally log in, of course.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:45 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
But by giving this app the permission to view all of your emails, it will get access to any passwords or other sensitive information that was emailed to you by other, less security conscious entities.
Not that I didn't totally log in, of course.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:45 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is probably some kid's thesis project about how easy it is to get people to turn over access to their email accounts.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 3:55 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 3:55 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'm one of the few people who actually clean out Gmail every now and again, so this might not totally be accurate (especially re: exes) but, good on them.
And, for the paranoids, an introduction to what an IRB does might be in order.
posted by Apropos of Something at 4:08 PM on July 8, 2013
And, for the paranoids, an introduction to what an IRB does might be in order.
posted by Apropos of Something at 4:08 PM on July 8, 2013
On my snarky comment about IRB: As a social network researcher myself, we're in the business of asking people for sensitive information (in my case, in person; in MIT Media Lab's case, with this tool). If you're uncomfortable, you shouldn't participate; however, getting data on phenomena is the only way they can be studied and better understood. If human relationships (through technology or otherwise) are something you value, then they're something that ought be studied, and frankly, O-Authing is a relatively unobtrusive way to do it, as these things go.
posted by Apropos of Something at 4:13 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Apropos of Something at 4:13 PM on July 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
I was a little wary but I trust the MIT Media Lab enough, so I did it. And it's kinda worth it. Interesting network imaging.
posted by Miko at 5:26 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by Miko at 5:26 PM on July 8, 2013
I'm too paranoid, but I'm sure my results would say gee you send a lot of emails to yourself, are you ok?
posted by lineofsight at 6:00 PM on July 8, 2013
posted by lineofsight at 6:00 PM on July 8, 2013
It surely is amazing how many passwords you can get if you promise people a pretty picture.
A pretty picture of the user. That is the key here. People can talk about themselves for hours, eh?
posted by Meatbomb at 7:31 PM on July 8, 2013
A pretty picture of the user. That is the key here. People can talk about themselves for hours, eh?
posted by Meatbomb at 7:31 PM on July 8, 2013
It just makes you realize how much of stuff is still in your email that shouldn't be there ...
off to delete lots of emails.
posted by TheLittlePrince at 7:40 PM on July 8, 2013
off to delete lots of emails.
posted by TheLittlePrince at 7:40 PM on July 8, 2013
I would like to give it extra information. I want to be able to merge emails from people who have changed emails, or even have work and home emails for two people.
Then it could merge them, but also show in what context who knows who.
Alternatively, perhaps I will scan in all the emails in the book e by matt beaumont to see if it can recreate the plot correctly.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:50 AM on July 9, 2013
Then it could merge them, but also show in what context who knows who.
Alternatively, perhaps I will scan in all the emails in the book e by matt beaumont to see if it can recreate the plot correctly.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:50 AM on July 9, 2013
Am I the only one getting an Admiral Akbar feeling from this?
posted by digitalprimate at 5:09 AM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by digitalprimate at 5:09 AM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
The only surprising thing I learned in my WA Facebook report is that a couple of my teenaged nephews lied to make themselves appear older than they are. Maybe that was to beat some age requirement for creating a FB page?
posted by aught at 7:09 AM on July 9, 2013
posted by aught at 7:09 AM on July 9, 2013
That WA Facebook report is great. I found out that my 8th most common word in my statuses is "revolution". Surrounding it are "now" and "time". I'm so proud of myself right now. ...and going to get a visit from the RCMP.
And I have a few different email accounts, gmail is only really used for a half-dozen people and a few autogenerated ones that I want to go to my phone, so it breaks down almost exactly like I'd think: Friends 1-6, trivia league, fact-of-the-day. Yippee.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:19 AM on July 9, 2013
And I have a few different email accounts, gmail is only really used for a half-dozen people and a few autogenerated ones that I want to go to my phone, so it breaks down almost exactly like I'd think: Friends 1-6, trivia league, fact-of-the-day. Yippee.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:19 AM on July 9, 2013
I figured MIT was legitimate enough. Anyway, it managed to pull apart two distinct groups of friends I have who are more or less stitched along one line of common contacts, which isn't impressive, exactly, but is accurate.
posted by codacorolla at 8:03 PM on July 9, 2013
posted by codacorolla at 8:03 PM on July 9, 2013
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posted by estlin at 1:45 PM on July 8, 2013