Discovering the hidden users of Scratch

Abstract

Usage statistics ("telemetry data") have become an essential tool for understanding how complex systems are used and how to improve them. However, many of these systems are deployed in areas with limited internet connectivity which hampers the ability to collect telemetry data. In this thesis, we describe a telemetry data collection system built for the Scratch programming language to collect usage data regarding how Scratch is being used in areas with poor internet connections. We develop the system to allow users to opt-in to sharing their usage and project data with the Scratch research team at the MIT Media Lab. The data is stored locally on the user's machine until it is ready to be transmitted. Once network conditions are appropriate, the packets are transmitted to a server which verifies the contents of the packet and stores it in a data storage cluster. We aggregate the data and build a visualization dashboard to examine usage patterns, geolocation statistics, and project content for Scratch users all around the world.