Shining a spotlight on online data tracking to help people understand the Web around them. That’s what we set out to accomplish a little more than a year ago as we began building on a popular, experimental add-on for Firefox called Collusion.

While revelations about government surveillance continue to stun people around the world, there’s another area of online data collection with its own complicated transparency challenges that remains important to users. And that’s the diverse range of third party companies that shape so much of our online experiences today from advertising to social sharing to personalization. Third parties are an integral part of the way the Internet works today. However, when we’re unable to understand the value these companies provide and make informed choices about their data collection practices, the result is a steady erosion of trust for all stakeholders.

Today, we’re proud to announce the next iteration of Collusion, which we’re now calling Lightbeam for Firefox. The release is happening at at this year’s MozFest.

Lightbeam is an add-on for Firefox that brings to light the array of first and third party companies people interact with everyday across the Web. Development of Lightbeam for Firefox is developed with support from the Ford Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and aided by faculty and students of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

How Lightbeam for Firefox works:

• Visualize the Web: After you download and install the Lightbeam add-on to Firefox, it will begin to create a real time visualization of the websites you visit and all the third parties that are also active on those pages.
• Analyze your connections: As your visualization grows, you can take a closer look into the  relationships between the various first and third party sites that are stored in your data. You can also reset or save your data.
• Contribute open data: As a part of Lightbeam, we’re creating a big-picture view of Web tracking and of how first and third party sites are connected to each other. To help us, you can contribute your data to our Lightbeam database. Call it a Wizard of Oz moment for the Web, where users collectively provide a way to pull back the curtain see its inner-workings.
• Support for publishers: During development of Lightbeam for Firefox, we worked with a number of leading online publishers about the value of the crowdsourced data. More work is needed, though. Once the open data set has time to mature, we’ll continue to explore how publishers can benefit from additional insights into the interaction of third parties on their sites.

At Mozilla, we believe that everyone should be in control of their user data and privacy, and we want to help you have the ability to make informed decisions about your Web experience. With the Lightbeam for Firefox add-on and open data, we’re providing a valuable community research platform to raise awareness, promote analysis and, ultimately, affect change in the areas of tracking and privacy.

Lightbeam for Firefox is still in an early stage of development, this being only the second release of the add-on. All of the code is posted to Github and available for the Mozilla community to hack, expand and improve. Stay tuned for the official release of Lightbeam, and to download the add-on as we make it available at MozFest.

Back in May I presented a paper on contextual identity, coauthored with Sid Stamm, at the Web 2.0 Security and Privacy workshop. Contextual identity is the notion that people choose how to present themselves depending on context, such as their audience or location. In contrast, external forces (such as naming policies imposed by social networks) promote the idea of having all your identities in one big identity. Although this is often convenient or desired, conflating all your identities can lead to serious privacy violations.

The desire for spontaneous, positive human interaction often requires sharing personal information, and sharing information doesn't negate the need or desire for privacy. We still have far to go when it comes to understanding how typical users think about privacy, publicity and identity, though I am delighted that the Mozilla User Research team has recently made inroads into understanding user data types.

For your amusement, my talk slides are below. Be on the lookout for Snoop Lion and the popemobile!

I’m going to talk to you about being a designer, but of course this applies to [INSERT PORTION OF LIFE HERE]. There are other articles out there that speak to what I’m about to say, but hey, I want to talk too and this is my article. Many voices.

As a designer, what an age we live in. People everywhere are coming online within social networks, blogs and other sites sharing ideas and inspiring the masses with a collective outpouring of creativity. As a designer, it is amazing to have the ability to play and be inspired by thousands upon thousands of my peers just by simply seeing their work tweeted or shared in a portfolio site online. What an awesome resource the Internet is for creativity and anyone first stepping into the design world.

As a designer, it is also terrifying.

Why would any designer out there want to become high enough profile in their profession that thousands or millions of people get to see their work? How badly would that person have to hate themselves to put up with the onslaught of feedback that can be defined simply as deconstructive? Maybe someone might think they ripped off another designer and their career would be over before it even started. Do they even have any original ideas or are they just interpretations of what others have already done? What if everyone hates their work? Wait… who is “everyone”?

I know, right? Frig that. I’m just going to stare at this wall for the rest of the day.

Imposter syndrome is something lots of us are talking about these days. It leads to fear in one’s abilities, fear in being excited about your work, fear in the impact your work may have, fear in the lack of impact… self doubt is a huge gronk of a beast as a designer. So when I see current events like the deluge of hate towards the iOS 7 redesign or someone ripping apart #the #latest #design #story, I can’t help but think that all this deconstructive criticism and rage is simply unfiltered bullying. What else is it? Are these haters doing anything to offer guidance or help with any of the concerns they may have? No. Are these people at the very top of their field in design that they now know the One True Way to design a product, brand or piece of art? Mostly no, but sadly sometimes they are damn close and should know better. Do these haters actually care that there are individuals behind these designs and not just faceless companies? Again, in most cases, probably not.

Here’s something I learned over the years. The haters are the minority. They shout to be heard and unfortunately the haters sometimes become the majority in numbers within the feedback you do get. That is only because everyone else is just enjoying your work, or respects it enough to not offer criticism without purpose. If they over-the-moon love it, they’ll comment. If they want to offer constructive advice, they’ll comment.

So as a designer, what can you do?

Lead. Lead by example. Learn to love the helpers and ignore the haters. Inspire others, don’t belittle them. Be constructive, not destructive. Embrace fear. Allow the challenge of taming that fear to lead you to that amazing creative spark that everyone sees shining through the final piece. Love what you do, regardless of what others say. If you love your work, it shows. Don’t be afraid to show it off, but remain humble – allow some of that imposter syndrome to keep you in check so you’re not seen as a diva.

If you’re just beginning as a designer, be it through school or just as a side experience, welcome! Embrace any fears you may have because for the most part they stick around the whole way through your career. Love them and they’ll keep you humble and a designer others want to work with. You’ll find your place.

If you’re a designer now, I salute you. Keep all of this in mind and be sure to inspire, nurture, mentor, aid, encourage, all other designers. We’re not competition. We’re family. Don’t let a paycheque make you a hater.

As a designer, don’t be a bully. Just play.

Microsoft today is confirming new design and interfaces changes to Windows 8.1, codenamed Windows Blue, today - changes that include the return of the missing Start menu button.

(See also Microsoft Is Backing Down From One Of Windows 8's Boldest Changes.)

It isn't known if this design change (one among many highlighted in today's entry on the official Windows blog) will be enough to turn around the at-best ambivalence users have shown towards Windows 8 and its Metro interface, but it's a Start.

Image courtesy of Microsoft.

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The problem with Google’s vision is that it doesn’t acknowledge the vital role that disorder, chaos, and novelty play in shaping the urban experience. Back in 1970, cultural critic Richard Sennett wrote a wonderful little book—The Users of Disorder—that all Google engineers should read. In it, Sennett made a strong case for “dense, disorderly, overwhelming cities,” where strangers from very different socio-economic backgrounds still rub shoulders. Sennett’s ideal city is not just an agglomeration of ghettos and gated communities whose residents never talk to one another; rather, it’s the mutual entanglement between the two—and the occasionally mess that such entanglements introduce into our daily life—that makes it an interesting place to live in and allows its inhabitants to turn into mature and complex human beings.

Google’s urbanism, on the other hand, is that of someone who is trying to get to a shopping mall in their self-driving car. It’s profoundly utilitarian, even selfish in character, with little to no concern for how public space is experienced. In Google’s world, public space is just something that stands between your house and the well-reviewed restaurant that you are dying to get to. Since no one formally reviews public space or mentions it in their emails, it might as well disappear from Google’s highly personalized maps. And if the promotional videos for Google Glass are anything to judge by, we might not even notice it’s gone: For all we know, we might be walking through an urban desert, but Google Glass will still make it look exciting, masking the blighted reality.
Google’s urbanism, on the other hand, is that of someone who is trying to get to a shopping mall in their self-driving car. It’s profoundly utilitarian, even selfish in character, with little to no concern for how public space is experienced. In Google’s world, public space is just something that stands between your house and the well-reviewed restaurant that you are dying to get to. Since no one formally reviews public space or mentions it in their emails, it might as well disappear from Google’s highly personalized maps. And if the promotional videos for Google Glass are anything to judge by, we might not even notice it’s gone: For all we know, we might be walking through an urban desert, but Google Glass will still make it look exciting, masking the blighted reality.

”

- Google Maps personalization will hurt public space and engagement. - Slate Magazine