

Regard,  analytics made open and transparent - nanderEire
https://www.withregard.io

======
mwilliamson
I think this is an excellent idea. It lets companies retain the benefits of
analytics, but gives users the appropriate power over information concerning
them. A couple of questions occurred to me.

Firstly, how much do end-users worry about the transparency of their data? For
many users, I get the impression that this is something that they've simply
never worried about (although that's somewhat anecdotal!). Do you think that's
going to change (or isn't true), or perhaps something that we, as an industry,
should be working to change? What's the motivation for a company to adopt this
over other, less transparent analytics?

Secondly, I had a look at "My data". At the moment, it's a list of JSON. I'm
not sure how transparent this is to non-technical people, nor how transparent
it will be when the list contains hundreds or thousands of entries. Do you
have any plans to make this more approachable?

~~~
kevfromireland
Full disclosure, I work with Neil on the project,
[https://withregard.io/about](https://withregard.io/about) (Guy on the left)

Your questions are good ones, and ones that we are trying to test ourselves. I
think it probably is true that people aren't concerned about what data is
collected by them when using apps at the minute, but that is probably because
they don't know. As people become more aware of what kind of data is collected
and what it is being used for, I think we could see a change in how people
view what they are willing to sacrifice for 'free' things. Privacy is becoming
more important as people become more aware of what is being disclosed, and I
think people behaving appropriately shouldn't be afraid of disclosing exactly
what they are collecting and exactly what they are using it for. My colleague
Andrew wrote an article for our blog about this:
[https://withregard.io/blog](https://withregard.io/blog)

The disclosing the data as JSON is the absolute MVP we could do to get
started, although you could argue over the 'V'... Our plan is to start
speaking with end users and finding out what bits of the data being disclosed
is the most important and find ways to visualize, all the time promoting the
fact that they own the data.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, sign up if you want to find out more as we
build out the service.

------
ansimionescu
While interning at Red Gate I had Neil as my supervisor and I can attest to
his capability and intelligence. Also, this product really scratches an itch
for people like me who hate analytics and value privacy.

edit: I just noticed who's on the team. They're all stellar exº-Red Gate
people. I sense great things coming for this project! Good luck, guys! :)

[https://withregard.io/about](https://withregard.io/about)

º – I assume

~~~
mwilliamson
I believe they're all still Red Gate folk. Specifically, if you take a look at
their About page:

> Regard is an open source product built by a team working for Red Gate
> Ventures in Cambridge, UK.

Only just noticed that it's open source as well. [https://github.com/with-
regard/](https://github.com/with-regard/)

------
UweSchmidt
"We make it easy to anonymously contact users who have used certain features
or taken certain routes."

Interesting!

Small note: The back button on the data didn't immediately bring me back to
the main page.

~~~
kevfromireland
Thanks for the feedback. Interesting the anonymous contact is what jumped out
at you, we think you can get most of the benefits you get with traditional
analytics but do it in a way that keeps the user front and center.

~~~
UweSchmidt
The connection between site owner and visitor has always been mostly one-way,
and most ways to connect are usually way too involved. Send an Email? Find the
good old guestbook, or become social? Usually not.

Maybe you can make something happen here. Marketing doesn't need to know about
it. Just a page where users can read useful things on sites they visit. "Hey
we thought our site was blocked in your area, how do you do it?" or "You've
delete all your stuff even though you seem to use our site, did you know
there's a "undo" functionality" etc.

------
dang
We took "Show HN" out of the title, because Show HN implies something that
exists that people can play with now, and not just an email signup. Please
post a Show HN when the software is ready to try out.

~~~
nanderEire
Ah ok. I figured since people can actually see their data and the Regard
project itself that it was ok to post a Show HN. Thanks for the advice.

~~~
dang
It seems like it'll make a good Show HN when it's ready. Good luck!

