Human Interaction with Technology and Information

I looked at the Email episode from 1986.  It wasn’t email like we think of today though- it was a pay-per-message system that could do about a tenth of what any email server can do now. The first email system they showed was something called Lotus Express. It worked on an IBM, and you paid for each message you sent out. It allowed for sending of graphics and other files, which was a huge deal to the host. The next was source mail, which worked in a similar way, though they were pushing it for use from country to country. The third was Call for Text- you dialed into your computer from a phone, and a computer voice read your messages to you. The last one called Watson worked like an answering machine. Someone else could call into your computer, leave you a message, and then you could listen to the message straight from there.  Useful, I guess…if you don’t have a phone.

 What was most interesting to me were the security concerns.  They generally weren’t about someone else getting into your inbox, or about someone sending you something that would harm your computer.  The main concern was about sending messages up into space.

Description of the data: 

Ebay is an online company that allows users to sell products to customers by auctioning them, and to buy them from other users with the same method. With 35 categories including antiques, books, electronics, jewelry, music, tickets, sports memorabilia, and home & garden, and hundreds of sub-categories, the site attempts to cater to every audience. To buy or sell on the site, you must create a user name. Ebay then allows you to buy and sell, storing your 30 day bid history.  Most users both buy and sell.  Anyone selling an item must put their location with the information about the product for shipping reasons. I think it would be interesting to see what individual users are buying, as well as what other items they look for and bid on in the 30 day period.  It would also be interesting to find out what kinds of people are buying and selling from what areas of the world. 

Why is the data interesting?

Buying items, if not selling them, is a major part of a person’s everyday life.  We purchase the things we need, like food and clothes, but also the things we like. Consequently, the things we buy speak to other people about the kind of person we are. Ebay is even more interesting because it puts all of the available items in one easy-to-use interface and it allows for people to buy items from anywhere- from work, home, school, etc. It is also possible to find out where a seller is living.

How can we obtain this data?

When you click on an item that is being auctioned, you are brought to a screen where you can see the number of bids and the high bidder. You can then click on the high bidder, and can view their bidding history.   For example, this user’s profile shows:

The information about what people are searching and bidding on can be found by searching through the profiles of individual users.

In order to get information about where people who were selling certain items lived, someone would have to go through the items of interest that were currently being auctioned and look at the seller’s profile.

What specific questions can the data answer?

Who is buying what and how often?

What else are the people buying a certain item buying?

If there are any trends with regard to location and the types of items being purchased.