The Ninth Feltron Report
September 23, 2014 2:12 PM Subscribe
Nicholas Felton datafied all his conversations in 2013. ALL of them. You may remember Felton, a performance artist, from previous datafication projects. In 2013, he kept detailed records of every conversation he had - with anyone, in any medium. Last month, he released the Report.
Terrifying.
posted by gwint at 2:25 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 2:25 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
Felton spokesman Nicholas Felton reiterated Felton's commitment to meeting fourth quarter targets for spontaneous conversations with male parking attendants. "At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to our shareholders," Felton said, referring to himself.
posted by dephlogisticated at 2:28 PM on September 23, 2014 [20 favorites]
posted by dephlogisticated at 2:28 PM on September 23, 2014 [20 favorites]
We can help.
posted by NSA at 2:39 PM on September 23, 2014 [18 favorites]
posted by NSA at 2:39 PM on September 23, 2014 [18 favorites]
You know, the NSA can really rehabilitate their image if they were to be honest about their panopticon and offer this to citizens as a free annual service.
EDIT: and access to chaoscopic future forecast reports would be nice, too.
posted by Apocryphon at 2:40 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
EDIT: and access to chaoscopic future forecast reports would be nice, too.
posted by Apocryphon at 2:40 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
HOW??
I'm on the edge of thinking this is simply made-up because documenting your life in this details would take more time than actually living it. How does he possibly do it?
posted by GuyZero at 2:46 PM on September 23, 2014
I'm on the edge of thinking this is simply made-up because documenting your life in this details would take more time than actually living it. How does he possibly do it?
posted by GuyZero at 2:46 PM on September 23, 2014
He mentioned Ketamine 8 times? That's excessive.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:55 PM on September 23, 2014
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:55 PM on September 23, 2014
...ly fun!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:56 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:56 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
For 2014 he should datafy all the conversations he doesn't have.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:03 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:03 PM on September 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm on the edge of thinking this is simply made-up because documenting your life in this details would take more time than actually living it. How does he possibly do it?
You certainly couldn't do it invisibly--that is, the act of record keeping must be changing the nature of his communications (although I didn't notice a record for how many conversations he shut down with "can't talk, still entering data from our last interaction").
Like you, I'm a little suspicious of the quality of the data.
And, indeed, if you look at what he says about the data gathering, you can see that the richer the interaction, the more dubious the record-keeping:
You certainly couldn't do it invisibly--that is, the act of record keeping must be changing the nature of his communications (although I didn't notice a record for how many conversations he shut down with "can't talk, still entering data from our last interaction").
Like you, I'm a little suspicious of the quality of the data.
And, indeed, if you look at what he says about the data gathering, you can see that the richer the interaction, the more dubious the record-keeping:
In prior reports, I’d really been interested in as close to 100 percent accuracy as I could get. This Report required me to step back a little; at the low end, of ordering a latte, I might be 100 percent complete in capturing the conversation, but in the real juicy conversations, at a dinner party or a wedding, where I’m talking for hours and hours, there’s going to be far lower fidelity, and I had to be comfortable with that.posted by yoink at 3:29 PM on September 23, 2014
Nevermind, the 'conversations with non-verbal component' section of the report clears that up.
posted by yonega at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by yonega at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
40k SMS's, 12k conversations, 30k emails. Am I just a hermit, or is he just exceptionally communicative?
posted by smidgen at 10:27 PM on September 23, 2014
posted by smidgen at 10:27 PM on September 23, 2014
at a dinner party or a wedding, where I’m talking for hours and hours
Either he's an extraordinarily boorish guest, or he goes to those weddings and dinner parties where everyone's on crank.
posted by El Mariachi at 11:26 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Either he's an extraordinarily boorish guest, or he goes to those weddings and dinner parties where everyone's on crank.
posted by El Mariachi at 11:26 PM on September 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yay, I love the Feltron Report! This year's is definitely a bit different.
For those wondering how he does it, Feltron also provides two apps, Reporter and Daytum (iPhone only, unfortunately). I'm not sure how well it would work for this kind of conversation classification, but I used Reporter for a few months this year and found it quite handy and pleasant. The idea is that it prompts you to fill out a (user-defined) questionnaire at random intervals through the day, to build a picture of how you spend your time, and also records weather, ambient noise level, and position data.
Most of the information I was interested in collecting was stuff that could be entered at the beginning and end of the day: how many coffees did I have, how much alcohol, how many hours of sleep did I get (this is automatically calculated from sleep and wake times), and what I dreamed about.
posted by daisyk at 5:06 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
For those wondering how he does it, Feltron also provides two apps, Reporter and Daytum (iPhone only, unfortunately). I'm not sure how well it would work for this kind of conversation classification, but I used Reporter for a few months this year and found it quite handy and pleasant. The idea is that it prompts you to fill out a (user-defined) questionnaire at random intervals through the day, to build a picture of how you spend your time, and also records weather, ambient noise level, and position data.
Most of the information I was interested in collecting was stuff that could be entered at the beginning and end of the day: how many coffees did I have, how much alcohol, how many hours of sleep did I get (this is automatically calculated from sleep and wake times), and what I dreamed about.
posted by daisyk at 5:06 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
40k SMS's, 12k conversations, 30k emails. Am I just a hermit, or is he just exceptionally communicative?
12k conversations in a year is talking to almost 33 people per day. That does seem excessive to me, although I guess he is in a city which will have higher rates of incidental conversation. I wonder what percentage of 'conversations' are one- or two-liners of "thanks", "excuse me", etc.
posted by Hargrimm at 1:16 PM on September 24, 2014
12k conversations in a year is talking to almost 33 people per day. That does seem excessive to me, although I guess he is in a city which will have higher rates of incidental conversation. I wonder what percentage of 'conversations' are one- or two-liners of "thanks", "excuse me", etc.
posted by Hargrimm at 1:16 PM on September 24, 2014
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posted by Pecinpah at 2:14 PM on September 23, 2014