Quantified Self
Research
Cindy Chan, Joel Moore, Tom Fairweather and Sophie Tyler
Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelley, editors at Wired Magazine, are generally credited with coining the term
"quantified self" when they began a project to track all the new tracking technologies.They created a
company, called Quantified Self Labs, which aims to serve the users and makers of tracking tools.
The Quantified Self is a movement to incorporate technology into data using aspects of a person's
daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. mood, arousal,
blood oxygen levels), and performance (mental and physical).
You may not have heard of the term ‘Quantified Self Movement’ as it goes by other aliases in the
media such as ‘auto-analytics’, ‘self-tracking’, ‘life-logging’, and ‘life-hacking’. The movement uses many
methodologies to achieve its goals.
The major methodologies are:
•
data collection
•
visualization
•
cross-referencing
•
discovery of correlations
Recent advancements in mobile technology has made it a lot easier to store, record, and track data.
Most Quantified Selfers use handheld devices such as mobile phones or tablets to self-track. The data
is normally stored in downloadable software or an app’s database
Currently some popular programs for self-tracking are:
•
Nike+ FuelBand
•
Fitbit
•
Body Media FIT
•
WakeMate
•
Zeo
•
Withings Body Scale
There are hundreds of devices and apps now used for a variety of different tracking purposes. Some of
these innovations record activity data, some take biometric measurements… the innovation around
what can be recorded is quickly expanding.
• Sleepbot is collecting data about how
well you sleep at night and is available
on both android and IOS platforms.
• The sleepbot app works by the user
first setting there alarms which you
can be specific about for each day if
you want
• When you go to sleep the app then
records movement and sound in the
room to help determine your sleeping
patterns
• The information you collect is then
stored on a table and a graph
• Another page of the app gives you
information on using sleepbot, helping
you sleep, how to stay awake easier
and learning about sleep
Reviews are from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lslk.sleepbot&hl=en_GB
• The principle of the app is to help the user ultimately improving there
sleeping pattern which will then help there health and productivity
• Really nice and easy Great for monitoring your sleep and seeing just what
happens while you sleep. No major problems and overall a great app – Sam
Donaldson
• Love it Best app I installed it tracks sleeping trends and has tips and alarms i
love it you should download it only some more customising would be nice like
colours and you can record sound with fans but overall thank you – Brroklyn
Johnston
Reviews are from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lslk.sleepbot&hl=en_GB
• Water Your Body is an app for
reminding you to drink water every
day and tracking your water drinking
habits, which is aimed at the people
who always forget to drink water
regularly.
• Users need to enter their current
weight and the app will help their to
determine how many water their
body need everyday.
•
Every time when users finished
drinking a cup of water, they will
need to add a cup in the app. Their
next cup will be reminded.
• The principle is motivations. The app
does not only keep track of how
much water you drink but it also
reminds you to.
• The target drinking amount motivate users to drink enough water.
• According to the reviews, this app has got 4.5 out of 5 stars.
• Most of the users think the app is useful and can actually improve their
drinking habits.
•
Generally the app works really well.
MyFitnessPal is an application which is used for tracking your exercise and over
all intake of macro-nutrient intake.
As you can see the home screen shows you how many calories you have left for
the day which alters depending on you activity and you can also see where to
click to add food to each meal, or where to add to your water intake or exercise.
As you can see in the screen to the left you
can search any kind of food or exercise which
you have eaten or took part in and record the
amount into your account.
For motivation there is also a progress tab to
the application where you can select a
measurement to record and view your
progress over time.
MyFitnessPal has a built in social network
which allows you to add friends and keep in
touch with others who share the same
goals as you and help track each others
progress.
MyFitnessPal is a completely free
application and makes money out of the ads
which they have on the website, however
the application has no ads or added extras
which you have to pay to access.
In evaluation MyFitnessPal is a great
application for people who want to track
their calories and exercise with added
benefits that its free and it calculates the
amount of calories you should be taking in
the achieve your goals.