Edge of the Internet Bot

My bot is called @mynewwebpage. It tweets every time I visit a new website. You can get your own “creepy” bot by going to edgeofinternet.us. (“creepy” according to my girlfriend’s coworkers).

Its bio: Trying to find the edge of the internet. Twitter feed logging every domain I visit.


Process

I had been thinking of ways to track the tabs I have open at any moment for a while. I was thinking of creating a website that would publish every website I was looking at at any moment. Then this assignment came along, and I decided to implement the tracking software (it’s a Chrome extension), but have its output go to a Twitter account.

I wasn’t sure how to reduce this feed of information into something interesting. With David Newbury and Golan’s ideas, I decided to only tweet if a website I was visiting was one I had never visited before. I expect that eventually the new sites I visit will reduce to a slower, steady pace. I’m curious to see this stable-state and be able to compare different people’s stable states.

The bot has surprised me by showing how many new sites I visit. I didn’t expect to be visiting new sites every few minutes a week and a half after implementing. The drop-off in new visits has not been steep or exponential. Instead it looks like a gradual slope.

I have had very strong reactions to the bot. I created the bot as a service—anyone can set this up for themselves using my system. I thought I would be able to get someone else to do this with me as an exercise in self-discovery. No one has wanted to divulge their browsing patterns. They think it’s too creepy and personal. I didn’t expect this reaction.

Taxonomy

This bot is clearly a feed-based bot. It publishes a running list of sites I visit. It doesn’t communicate or respond in any way.

Screen shots

Latest websites Visited:

Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 10.45.32 AM

First websites visited:

Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 10.46.00 AM

Random moment in timeScreen Shot 2015-03-02 at 10.47.36 AM:

 

 

 

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About Alex Sciuto

Alex Sciuto is a designer who uses computers and data to create new systems and interactions for people to play with. He is currently a Masters of Design student at the CMU School of Design. His thesis project focuses on visualizing consumers personal medical payment data. You can help him complete his thesis project by visiting pghmedicalprices.us.