Tracking towards better understanding
walto
Public
Seen by 36
I would like to propose we track the usage of the different online tools in a GDPR-conform way in one tool we trust won’t misuse the data.
The key argument to track better, is to understand how to facilitate more online participation in the co-creation process.
Why track
Overarching goals:
improve the online tools we use (website, Dreams, Talk, Realities, emails)
Increase the relevance of these tools to the community, particularly for new people
Motivate people to take action to publicize information from Talk, Realities,… via different channels
More concrete data specs:
better understand how we can best engage people.
Examples: Is Facebook indeed the best way to publicize what is happening on Talk? Should we send more emails to inform people about what is happening?What do people do on these platforms? How do they navigate? Which posts are checked a lot?
What are new people most interested in? How do they find their way to participate online? We have trouble engaging new people, so how can we do that then?
Which Tool?
First proposal
Agreed solution: Matomo
100% data ownership
open source
we do not need a Datenschutzerklärung notice to agree to given that we anonymize the data
Access or explanation: ask @waldo
On Surveys
Some suggested we do not need to track, but can rely on surveys. I would challenge this because of two reasons:
just asking the people that are involved gives a very skewed picture. It is the same issue we have with a lot of things: we just end up asking the same people over and over, staying in a bubble. It usually is about engaging the people that are not very involved.
In addition, it is a lot more work to distill learnings about how to engage newer people with content through interviews or surveys vs. just looking at a summary of how ppl landed on the website, Talk or Realities. to be honest: won't be done.
walto Thu 16 Jan 2020 2:02PM
It would be very nice to have google analytics. I understand your concerns, but the ease of use, for me, outweighs the potential issues.
Henrik 🤖 Thu 16 Jan 2020 7:20PM
hey waldo,
please check if matomo works for you: https://analytics.kiezburn.org
It's currently tracking https://kiezburn.org/ and http://dreams.kiezburn.org/
login credentials are in lastpass
Henrik 🤖 Thu 16 Jan 2020 7:22PM
and there are more stats here: https://kiezburn.org/wp-admin/index.php?page=wp-piwik_stats
walto Fri 17 Jan 2020 9:42AM
yeah, I know the Talk one, but it doesnt give me enough info I feel. I want to know how we get ppl to go to Talk, how many new users as %, etc. (same for realities), so that we better understand what is driving ppl towards these platforms and where is it going wrong...
Henrik 🤖 Fri 17 Jan 2020 12:09PM
Before we're setting up Google Analytics on all our tools I'd like to have a discussion in a wider circle beforehand to see how the community stands on this point.
Poll Created Sat 18 Jan 2020 12:38PM
Let's track better & use it :) Closed Mon 20 Jan 2020 12:28PM
The overarching sentiment seems to be:
- Google Analytics is not desired because of Google
- Tracking alternatives could be possible
- some people do not understand what tracking is, or it's relevance, so that would need to be clearer.
Let's continue discussing, there is further discussion in this thread.
I would like to propose that we track our Talk and Dreams platform via Google Analytics, like we do for our website.
Why track?
- so we better understand what is driving people to these platforms. Is it always Facebook posts, what role do emails play, do people just log in and check? Same for Realities, how do people get there?
- Better understand what people do on these platforms: how do they navigate it?
The goal would be to improve the relevance of these platforms and better connect them to the useflow as expected by Kiez Burners.
Why Google Analytics?
- because it is the most used tracking tool, so lots of people understand already how to use it (incl. me) and has a lot of functionalities
- Because people can be granted access in an easy way
Google Analytics alternatives
- We need to evaluate Matomo (but trouble logging in...)
- still all next steps are relevant (we need to update our privacy notice + onboard ppl into using it)
How about privacy?
- all info is anonymized in Google Analytics. As someone analyzing the data, you would not be able to figure out anything from anybody in particular
- We do need a notice that we track
Next steps
- get input from experts on the matter + people who use these forums if they are ok with this
- WHEN OK: onboard ppl who want to work on improving these community tools into how data analysis might help
- WHEN OK: implement the correct pricacy notices to users: not sure yet what that means
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 31.3% | 5 |
|
| Abstain | 18.8% | 3 |
|
|
| Disagree | 37.5% | 6 |
|
|
| Block | 12.5% | 2 |
|
|
| Undecided | 0% | 11 |
|
16 of 27 people have participated (59%)
Callum Macdonald
Sat 18 Jan 2020 12:47PM
More tracking by google seems like the very opposite direction of what I’d consider a good idea. I think analytics are a dark path to surveillance, and we’d be better to ask people in surveys where they choose to answer explicitly than to spy on people. Unless we have an explicit “opt in” where people explicitly say “yes, track me with google analytics”.
Zach Dunton
Sat 18 Jan 2020 1:16PM
The data is anonymized, and will give us insight into user behavior. Maybe we could consider a less ethically dubious tool if there is one.
Veroca R. Sala
Sat 18 Jan 2020 1:57PM
Useful. I support the initiative although im not familiar with google analytics
Henrik 🤖 · Mon 30 Sep 2019 8:16AM
I setup a piwiki instance, which has the advantage of not having to rely on Google or send data to a third party. But it has the disadvantage of not working properly. If it can't get fixed we'll probably switch to GA