Daniel W. Tewfik

København, Denmark [email protected]

[dtewfik]

Completely taken aback by Google Chat history in Timehop.

Up until now, Timehop captures your outward and social self this day in history.  Everyday you get a digest of what you’ve shared online this day last year, the year before, and so forth.  It’s an online time capsule of what we signal or share to others every day.

Now, Timehop shows you your Gchat message history and my Timehop experience has became emotional in a way I didn’t expect. I thought it would be similar to the other content it normally shares: normal, shareable photos, links, and other fodder you find on Facebook and Twitter.  What I learned quickly is that your private messages were never public. There's an intimacy to an online conversation. And now you're reminded of the failed dinner plan you made three years ago, the exciting vacation plans you made two years ago, the casual conversation with an ex-girlfriend, a heart-to-heart with a sibling.

By integrating your chat history, it reminds of the permanence of our online activity.  "Yeah yeah yeah, what we do online is forever, I get it". Yes, BUT there has never been a platform to drudge up content hidden away in your inbox vault. It's fantastically eerie how every October 1st, I'll be reading this conversation. Again in 2017, and again in 2018-- like I’m an online version of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Luckily for us, conversations had in ‘Private Mode’ are lost to the ether. Having this new feature in Timehop has added a new layer to my everyday introspection. Definitely give it a go.

To set it up:

Go to the Timehop app on your device of choice

Click on Settings

Add “Google”

Connect “Chats”

[dtewfik]

Demands of Privacy and Morality

There are certain things I want to keep private: my financial transactions, alcohol use, calorie intake. That being said, I’m making a willful decision in exposure when i use tools like Venmo, Untappd, and MyFitnessPal.

However, these are decisions I can make for myself. Are people not allowed to have any privacy anymore because some group doesn't approve? AshleyMadison is an appalling concept but it's a private business involving consenting adults. Their recent hack (and subsequent controversy) has millions of people talking about privacy, adultery, and the morality of it all.

AshleyMadison did not create a new problem. These are practices that are common to humanity since the dawn of time.  Problematic, self-harming practices are still common all over the world. What’s more disconcerting is that many of these individuals don't have the emotional capacity to talk to their partners or even admit to themselves that what they’re doing is harmful. This group that has outed millions of users with the intention of doing ‘good’, 

Everyone’s moral compasses are different. Demanding others to have the same morality as yours is what starts wars.  Although I don’t predict AshleyMadison will result in a war (digital or real), the internet has brought us closer than we ever expected. We should be careful in our demands of our neighbors, peers, and strangers.

[dtewfik]

AirBNB and Middleman Economics

“If I own my place and go through efforts to find the most trustworthy tenant, only to have them make a profit by renting it to people that I have no visibility to... I would lose my mind.”

Knee-jerk reaction would seem like you're not charging the right rent and as a responsible landlord, you could know or at least account for that.  There’s more to that though. As a property owner, if it's the higher rent you seek, why not just AirBNB it out yourself?

We’re guessing most people don’t choose this option due to the hassle of running an AirBNB. Cleaning, prepping, dealing with inquiries, and other tasks are actually time consuming and have spawned off complimentary services (see: Urban Bellhop; Proprly).  Most property owners would rather not spend the minuta of this, and sometimes a renter finds the time well spent. Thus, a middle-man economy.

Sowell argues that the jealousy is historically quite common among ethnic groups who have had historic success as economic "middlemen" who derive a profit from the service of bringing needed items to the marketplace. Among other historically persecuted "middlemen minorities" were [Jewish], Lebanese, and Chinese immigrant merchants. The resentment is due to a perceived "lack of added value" that these middlemen provide, as it is not easily observable. (Black Rednecks and White Liberals)

Middle-man economies are hated all over the world. This mostly due to misconceptions of the value that they add and are often presided over by large cultural groups.  With the rise of tech, we see the rise of middle-man economies that are agnostic to the groups that run them.  They suffer the same consequences though.  See beyond the dollar lost, and instead look at the economic dollar gained. These economies do add value, if people like them or not. 

Shameless plug: If you're staying in Boston, check out my own AirBNB!

[dtewfik]

From the Archives: Please stow all Electronic Devices Before Takeoff

[dtewfik]

This was posted two years ago today, and is still relevant to many airlines.  There has been a growing trend for airlines to ignore electronic devices.  I would love to know why. Anybody have an answer?

Why, exactly, are we forced to turn off and stow our electronics during take off and landing?  An infographic to explain.

Have you heard another reason? Leave comments below!

[dtewfik]

BRA Redesign Success: 4 Month Post Launch Check-in

The organization I work for, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, launched a new design for its web presence in October of 2013.  Four months in, I dig into our analytics and see what sort of changes our end-users are exhibiting.  Any significant improvements in usage and cool charts ahead. [more]

[dtewfik]

Marvel Meets Mexican Cartels?

Mexico legalizes vigilantism, leading to the capture of a cartel (the Knights Templar). As great as that sounds, there is a lot to consider in this legal vigilantism.

As u/Tapionski points out via Reddit:

Vigilantes will have to register their names to the defense department

They will be allowed to keep their weapons as long as they register them with the army

With a historically corrupt government such as the Mexican one, the likelihood of this list of registered vigilantes sound like it will eventually backfire.  Officials will likely leak the list to cartels, resulting in an enormous trap.

One fascinating thing to note, Marvel (yes the Comic publisher owned by Disney), covers a similar story in their series, 'Civil War'.

In it, the US government proposes the 'Superhuman Registration Act', legislation that would require registration of any person with superpowers (read: registered vigilantes).  What results is a fascinating political plotline and a bloodbath of superheros, civilians, and more.

The analogy may not be perfect, but something to consider as the Mexican government moves into the grey area of legal vigilantism.  Is this for the greater good? And if vigilantism does eventually win out amongst the cartels, what will be built in its ashes?

[dtewfik]

HBO's Game of Thrones Season 4 Google Calendar

I got sick of constantly referring to the Game of Thrones Wikipedia page for information on the current season, so last year I decided to make a public Google Calendar to keep track.  Since it was such a huge success last year I updated it for the fourth season. It will include the name of the episode, director, and writer.  I have included as much information as I currently have.

Let me know if I missed anything in the comments.

[dtewfik]

A good friend of mine, Gwen Kidera, is featured in an installment of the National Geographic series, "Digital Diversity". Gwen delves into how providing underserved communities reliable electronic and lighting infrastructure has had a positive impact. Read more.

[dtewfik]

For the last few months, I've had the opportunity to work on the Boston Redevelopment Authority website redesign. Here is a sneak peak.

[dtewfik]

In the last few months, a lot has changed. I began working on a redesign of the ONEin3 Boston website. ONEin3 is a business initiative run by the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the City of Boston.  They were going through a digital presence overhaul and had reached out to me for help.

The old design (a simple, and out-dated, Wordpress blog) was a simple blog stream with a number of child pages. Each page had about 100 outbound links to other services.  The goal was to bring this design to the new century and I worked with ONEin3 in bringin one that would result in more transparency and less reliance on others' content

A few things stand out in our design decisions. The design had to have:

A mobile-ready layout. Most content is shared via mobile channels and a website that wasn't ready for mobile is a huge detractor to many visitors. The goal was to minimize the mobile drop-off rate.

Easier site navigation. Much of the old site's design was buried within a very complex site structure. I moved the structure from 5 levels to 3 levels. The goal was to have the majority of website pages reachable from the home page.

Calls to action.  The old design had all their pages grouped by category, but it wasn't efficient at lead users to the content.  Viewers are now encouraged to 'Root Yourself, 'Invent Yourself', and 'Immerse Yourself' via the ONEin3 website.

Easily sharable via any social, mobile, or desktop channel.

It's been two weeks since the launch of the new design; we've gone back and measured the resulting change of interactions using Google Analytics.  With little change to the public visibility of the site (no marketing or change to content schedule) we've seen major results. 

The new layout has seen a consistent growth of visits by 26%. The increase in visits came from better search engine optimization because of the consolidation of page structure, more content-oriented pages, and being mobile-ready.

A good majority of new visits are those viewing from a mobile device. The amount of visits from mobile devices (tablet, smartphone, and more) have doubled since launching the new site. The site's design leverages a responsive layout instead of having two separate websites designs. The responsive design has a handy drop down for an easier way to find page content.

There has also been an 15% increase in page views per visit: the amount of clicks after visiting the landing page. Page views per visit is a comparable, but different metric to visit duration. Visit duration is a metric for how engaged users are with the content, page views per visit can be a good indicator of an easier UI to navigate

Lastly, we have a very interesting shift from search engine optimization.  The most visited page of the site before the redesign was a 2010 blog post giving tips to new movers to Boston.  With the redesign, we see no loss of visits to this blog post AND we're seeing the home page (the proper landing page) gaining as the most viewed page on the website.  We're hoping that this means no loss in viewership, but better optimization and results when people search for ONEin3 on Google.

I'm excited to see more results as the weeks progress. I'm very happy with the new design, layout, and results and I think my friends at ONEin3 Boston concur.

[dtewfik]

Hipsters of Boston

Yelp.com made a handy tool that mapped keywords against a graphical map. In this one you can find hipsters clearly marked in their natural habitats. Most clearly, Allston, Berkley College of Music, and Cambrdige. Jamaica Plain is but a smudge, but hipsters, nonetheless.

Loved the maps, and I'd suggest other keywords like 'Hoagies in Philly'. Awesome.

[dtewfik]

'Google Play Music All Access' Missing Features

Today, Google announced their answer to streaming music solutions.  Like Spotify and Rdio, it allows users to stream a (seemingly) limitless library of music anywhere via your Android device or your web browser. Although I'm giving the free month a run for its money, there are things that are painfully and obviously missing in the solution. 

Limiting uploaded music to 20,000 songs

Scrobbling listening to services like Last.FM

Import playlists created in Spotify, Rdio, and more

Podcast Subscriptions

Sharing songs to friends via other services (Facebook, Twitter, Spotify)

Control playback from keyboard

If Google released or planned to release these features, you'd have me as convert. Until then, I'm not convinced.

[dtewfik]

Northeastern University to host the Information Design and Data Visualization Boston 2013 Symposium.  The mesh between design and information has always been intriguing. It makes me ecstatic to see my alma mater and the Consulate of Switzerland joining forces to cover this discussion.

Will you be there?

[dtewfik]

A bicycle tour from Boston to Cape Cod.

So beautiful, so worth it. It took us about 12 hours to get from Boston to Provincetown, and it was fantastic every step of the way.

[dtewfik]

Featured on Deadspin!

Very excited to hear that Deadspin featured me on their blog today. Check out Barry Petchesky's article on my MLB Retired Numbers Infographic(s). 

[dtewfik]

Retired Baseball Numbers Series

A collection of data visualizations I've done for all MLB Retired Numbers. To see more, press the left and right arrows beside the picture.

[dtewfik]

HBO's Game of Thrones Google Calendar

I got sick of constantly referring to the Season 3 Wikipedia page for information, so I decided to make a public Google Calendar for my reference and to share with you all. It includes the name of the episode, director, and writer.

Let me know if I missed anything in the comments.

Calendar ID: [email protected] XML  iCal Browser