Author: Alexandra Carmichael

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Ian Clements on Analyzing his Cancer Data

September 7, 2012

Ian Clements has been self-tracking since 1974 – mostly exercise, weight, and general health indicators. But in 2007 he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This set off a more comprehensive mission of self-tracking to figure out which lifestyle changes and supplements were helping him to live longer. In the video below, Ian walks through his…

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Martha Russell on Respecting Digital Identity

September 2, 2012

Today’s breakout session preview for the upcoming QS conference is from Martha Russell of Stanford MediaX. She describes her session “Respecting Digital Identity:” — Many aspects of our daily lives are now infused with digital experiences. We are interacting in digital spaces where, in accessing experiences and content, we voluntarily and intentionally create content. Due to mass…

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Vahe Kassardjian and Rafi Haladjian on Crossing the Data Desert

August 27, 2012

Today’s breakout session preview for the upcoming QS conference is from Vahe Kassardjian of INM and Rafi Haladjian of Sen.se. Below they describe their session “Crossing the Data Desert:” — Some people base decisions on facts and data, while some people base them on other foundations or beliefs.  Let’s immediately forget about this latter group. For the former group,…

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Nick Gammell: How to separate user feedback signal from noise and incorporate into your product

August 23, 2012

Today’s breakout session preview for the upcoming QS conference is from Nick Gammell, a pioneer in the bright QS startup world. Here is Nick describing his session “How to separate user feedback signal from noise and incorporate into your product:” — A couple years ago when I started GAIN Fitness, I began asking more experienced entrepreneurs and…

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Temple of Self: A QS Masters Design Thesis

August 11, 2012

Aarti Vashisht has done some interesting QS-related work for her MFA at Art Center College Design. She designed some prototype sensors that could be worn on our bodies in the future, and interviewed people to learn their thoughts on how these integrated sensors might impact their lives. This is an image of the sensors she…

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What would you do with your microbiome sequence?

August 1, 2012

If you had access to free microbiome sequencing tests, to detect and analyze bacteria living in the nose, mouth, skin, gastro-intestinal, and/or urogenital areas of the body, what experiments would you think up? Would you compare oral bacteria in people with lots of cavities vs. people with no cavities, look for differences between people with…

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Nick Winter: The Lazy Man Approach to Cognitive Testing

July 30, 2012

Nick Winter has done some dedicated testing of the effect of different interventions on his cognitive function. He discovered that butter had an unexpected impact on his mental performance, while things like cutting out gluten had no effect. In the video below, Nick gives an entertaining and informative talk about his experimental design and what he…

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Alastair Tse on Walking All of Manhattan

July 28, 2012

Alastair Tse recently moved to New York, and wanted to walk all of the streets of Manhattan! He tried a few different approaches to tracking this that didn’t work, so he decided to make his own app that doesn’t use GPS or drain his phone battery. In the video below, Alastair talks about his adventures in…

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Evan Savage on Panic Tracking

July 17, 2012

Evan Savage has panic attacks, especially triggered by caffeine while driving. In late 2011, he was having multiple panic attacks a week. He didn’t want to take drugs, so he made his own recovery plan – logging his food, exercise, and panic attacks. He eliminated caffeine, and thought he had recovered, then relapsed. In the…

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Gustavo Glusman on Introducing QS into the Scientific Community

July 8, 2012

Gustavo Glusman is a member of Leroy Hood’s group at the Institute for Systems Biology. At a recent Hood group retreat, the main topic of conversation was Quantified Self! In the video below, Gustavo gives a fascinating recap of the retreat, including how the researchers talked about QS, what experiments they did on themselves, and…

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QS Conference Program Released

June 20, 2012

The third Quantified Self Conference is only 87 days away!! So we thought we’d release the program of awesome talks and sessions that will be given by QS community members. Check out the full list below, and please remember to register soon if you’d like to come – there are only 100 out of 600…

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Mike Winter on his Bike Safety Device

June 1, 2012

Mike Winter does a lot of crazy research projects, including building an autonomous motorcycle. But when his daughter was in a bicycle accident a couple of years ago, he started thinking about bike safety. Specifically, he built a device with an Arduino CPU and a few sensors that attaches to your bike and connects with your…