GoogleTakeOut_instructions.md

Instructions to effectively use Google Takeout

Pre-requisites:

• If you have multiple google accounts you use frequently (> 1 per month) then follow this procedure for all your google accounts.
• If you do not have a google account, please create one.
• If you have multiple phones, please make sure you follow this procedure for each phone.

Start of study period (wave 1):

1. Go to Google MyActivity and verify that "Web & App Activity" is enabled
2. Use Chrome as the default browser for both Desktop and Mobile
3. Log into your Google Account on both mobile and desktop
4. Turn on sync in Chrome: link to blog post explaining how.
5. Turn off in-app browsing:
   • In Android: Facebook how to, Facebook how to2, and Twitter how to.
   • iOS: It is possible to sync all your browsing histories of different Apple devices and can access the browsing history on your computer. You have one SQL database that includes your browsing history for all devices you used.
   • To do 1: Clarify whether iOS users have to upload this file.
   • To do 2: Check whether iOS devices are synced by default.
6. Turn off automatic deletion of browser history after X weeks/days.

Intermediate tasks to facilitate checking the quality of the takeout:

Before proceeding with the actual take out do the following:

Do not click on the urls below before reading the instructions carefully!

7. Use a desktop browser to go to https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/landen/madagaskar/over-ons/honorair-consulaat-in-antananarivo. Make sure you do not visit this website with any other device during the study period as that would invalidate the experiment.
8. Use your mobile phone to go to https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/landen/rusland/over-ons/ambassade-moskou. Make sure you do not visit this website with any other device during the study period as that would invalidate the experiment.
9. E-mail yourself the following url without opening it: https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/countries/oman/about-us/embassy-of-the-kingdom-of-the-netherlands-in-muscat. Next, open the e-mail sent to yourself in your mobile phone via your email app (e.g. gmail or outlook) and click on the link to open it. Make sure you do not visit this website with any other device during the study period as that would invalidate the experiment.
10. If you are a facebook user, copy paste the following url in a message to a friend and send it: https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/landen/sri-lanka/over-ons/nederlandse-ambassade-in-colombo. Next, open the message to your friend in your mobile phone via your phone's Facebook app. Make sure you do not visit this website with any other device during the study period as that would invalidate the experiment.
11. Before doing the take out, make sure you collect data for at least a couple of weeks.

End of study period (wave 2):

12. Go to Google Takeout
13. Click "Select None"
14. Select "Chrome"
15. Click "Next" (scroll down)
16. Verify the settings are:

• File type: Zip files
• Archive size (max): 50GB
• Delivery method: Send download link via email

17. Click "Create Archive"
18. Wait until archive is created (may take hours)
19. Go to Google Takeout Archives
20. Download latest archive zip
21. Unzip the zip-file.

Form to test the data collection yourself

Copy paste the text bellow to this issue in the respository and answer each questions.

• Did you encounter any problems following the instructions above? (yes/no)
• If yes, please list the problems you encounter: (open question)
• Did google takeout capture the website from item 7? (yes/no)
• Did google takeout capture the website from item 8? (yes/no)
• Did google takeout capture the website from item 9? (yes/no)
• Did google takeout capture the website from item 10? (yes/no)
• Did the google history duration matches what you expect it to be? (yes/no)
• What is the mobile phone brand you used? (Apple/HTC/Samsung/...)
• What is the operating system of the desktop computer you used? (Windows/iOS/Linux)