Reading Analytics and Privacy
Interesting paper: “The rise of reading analytics and the emerging calculus of reading privacy in the digital world,” by Clifford Lynch:
Abstract: This paper studies emerging technologies for tracking reading behaviors (“reading analytics”) and their implications for reader privacy, attempting to place them in a historical context. It discusses what data is being collected, to whom it is available, and how it might be used by various interested parties (including authors). I explore means of tracking what’s being read, who is doing the reading, and how readers discover what they read. The paper includes two case studies: mass-market e-books (both directly acquired by readers and mediated by libraries) and scholarly journals (usually mediated by academic libraries); in the latter case I also provide examples of the implications of various authentication, authorization and access management practices on reader privacy. While legal issues are touched upon, the focus is generally pragmatic, emphasizing technology and marketplace practices. The article illustrates the way reader privacy concerns are shifting from government to commercial surveillance, and the interactions between government and the private sector in this area. The paper emphasizes U.S.-based developments.
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AJWM • April 27, 2017 10:45 AM
The paper confusing acquisition with consumption. Or more specifically, just because I bought an e-book doesn’t mean I read it, and I’ve read plenty of things which I neither bought nor borrowed from a library, or I bought anonymously with cash.
Why buy a book I’m not going to read? Maybe it’s a gift. Maybe after the first chapter it turns out to be crap but it isn’t worth the hassle of returning. Or, as I did recently, I bought several top selling e-books that I have no particular interest in reading, but I was investigating the meta content. (Specifically, these were indie publications, and I was looking at what the authors did to e.g. entice readers to buy the next book, sign up for mailing list, etc.)
On the flip side, I borrow books/magazines from friends, read in the library without checking the book or journal out, and so on.
The approach might be useful for gathering general data, it’s more limited for specifics. Of course, as an author myself I have an interest in the aggregate data (readers who like X probably like Y), and Amazon has that finely tuned, but I don’t care what John Smith or Jane Doe reads.
Of course there are plenty of conspiracy theories which hinge on individual actions being triggered by a particular book or books, so anyone should be wary of assuming too much. (Again, as an author, I read all kinds of strange stuff for research. If I’m suddenly researching ways to dispose of a body, it just means I’m writing a mystery, not planning a murder.)