Jim AngMyLifeRocket

From quantified self to self experimentation

March 11 2015 #Digibury@Digibury

FROM QUANTIFIED SELF TO SELF EXPERIMENTATION

Jim Ang University of Kent

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Tech Myths or Facts?• Fully Draining the Battery on Your Smartphone or Laptop

Helps Condition It • Closing iPhone Apps Saves You Power • Using laptops on Lap Can Make Men Sterile • Mobile Phones Cause Cancers

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Our belief system• In Russia, there is a belief that if a bird defecates on you,

your car or your property it’s a sign good luck and may bring you riches. The more birds involved, the richer you’ll be!

This person must be so rich!

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Our belief system• Many of our beliefs are not based on evidence that we have

examined, but on what we have been told by authorities • Parents said Santa Claus brings presents to good kids on Christmas’s eve

• And on what an individual might have experienced as being quite out of normal • Last night I dreamed about meeting Stephen Hawking and it really

happened the next day!

• Coincidences are often over interpreted • There is also a general lack of understanding of how to judge

evidence about causes

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The data-driven world• Some of these “beliefs” or “superstitions” may be harmless,

but they certainly do not help us advance our understanding about the world, the society, and more importantly our own life • How do we prove/disprove this “belief”? • The experimental method: a systematic and scientific

approach to research in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables, and controls and measures any change in other variables. • One needs extensive training in experimental design and

statistics….

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Quantified self• Citizen science: scientific research conducted by the general public • Due to the advances in sensor technologies as well as the ubiquity of

Internet access and mobile devices, a new class of computer systems have emerged that help people collect personal information.

• Known as “personal informatics” or “quantified-self”, these systems feature a wide variety of tracking mechanisms, ranging from standard smartphone sensors such as location (GPS) and activity sensing (gyro and accelerometer), specialised devices such as wifi-enabled blood pressure monitor and bathroom scale, to simple manual entry diary tools.

• Popular examples of personal informatics systems include mint.com for finance, and fitbit.com for physical activity including sleep. Often, the goal of tracking personal information is to allow people to reflect on and better understand their behaviour, thoughts and moods.

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Quantified self• Some examples of these sensor devices which are becoming

increasingly common in our everyday life

Google Glass Galaxy Gear Fitbit Emotiv Insight

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Too much data? • Quantified self helps generate a lot of data. However, we are

still relying on our “intuitions” to understand the data

Work deadline stress? Christmas?

Aggressive post Christmas diet?

New year depression binge eating?

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myLifeRocket: Self experimentation platform

• Background of the project: • Funded by EPSRC for ~2 years (from June 2013) • Focusing on how digital technology can improve work-life

balance • http://www.scc.lancs.ac.uk/research/projects/DBS/

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myLifeRocket: Self experimentation platform

• We ran an interview study with a group of self-employed workers, corporate workers and students • Everyone seems to have their own “beliefs” or “myths” about

their work-life balance

• “if I don’t reply email instantly, my boss will think I am lazy” • “if I stop checking email at night, I will sleep better”

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http://www.myliferocket.com/

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