Earlier this summer we found out that the Knight Foundation was launching a challenge centered on funding “innovative ideas to harness information and data for the health of communities.” We decided that this would be a great opportunity to propose a program idea we’ve wanted to work on for a long time: A Quantified Self…
Greg Pomerantz was curious about the effect of carbohydrate intake on his various health indicators. After eating a low carbohydrate diet for a few years Greg wanted to see what happened if he reversed course and switched to a high carbohydrate diet (mostly fish and rice). Watch this quick talk, filmed at the New York…
How well do you know your city? Your neighborhood? The patterns of our daily lives typically dictate what we see and experience in our local environments. We travel the same roads, go to the same shopping centers, see the same sights. What would happen if we made a conscious effort to experience the entirety of…
We’ve covered weight tracking here many times. It’s a very popular topic, and one of the easiest ways to get started with self-tracking. In this insightful talk from Matthew Ames we learn how weight tracking, in conjunction with diet and activity tracking, positively impact his weight loss and improved his fitness. (filmed at the Boston…
If you’ve followed along here on the Quantified Self website or attended a meetup in your community you know that self-tracking isn’t limited to using gadgets or apps. Some of our most interesting talk come from individuals who are exploring their lives through the lens of personal data collection. That is, data that and methods…
John Schrom is a data scientist, graduate student, and avid self-tracker. After taking a look at his historical weight data he decided to dig a bit deeper into the story. Luckily, in addition to collecting his weight (via a Withings scale), he’s also been using Foursquare to collect his geolocation history. With these two data…
For about a year QS Labs has been working on a small scale project to learn how we can get more meaning out our personal data. The program involves small group discussions in which participants share data in advance, collaborate on visualization and analysis, and discuss the results. With a research grant from Intel, we’ve…
“Papa, what should I read?” Sometimes a simple question can lead someone down an interesting path towards self-tracking and understanding. In the case of Rajiv Mehta, his daughter’s interest in reading led him to start tracking his own reading behavior. In this wonderful talk, Rajiv walks us through his method for tracking his reading as…
We’ve showcased a few great talks from Steven Jonas, from his exploration on learning to how he became interested in tracking stress. In this insightful talk Steven walk us through his process for tracking and responding to his stress in realtime while at work. Low-level, seemingly mild stress still drains my energy, and many of…
What We Are Reading Newsletter from Jul 14, 2013
As you’ve probably read here before, our Quantified Self Conferences are special events. We spend a lot of time hand crafting the program to make sure we enable the human-to-human connections that we value and love. At our last two Global Quantified Self Conferences hosted in the bay area we’ve had the opportunity to bring…
Data gave me power to talk about the issue. We highlight a lot of great show&tell talks here that focus on personal medical mysteries and understanding one’s own health. Well, this one really hit home for me. I’m a runner and I’m constantly battling minor injuries and recurring knee pain. It’s nothing terrible, but it’s…
What We Are Reading Newsletter from Jul 7, 2013
Biomimicry is an interesting topic and one that we’ve started to see creep into our Quantified Self tools and visualizations. While recovering from surgery, Pete Denman, an interaction designer at Intel, became inspired to start to explore biomimicry as a way to show data. In this short Ignite talk from our 2013 European Conference, Pete talks about…
There is nothing quite like having to unexpectedly deal with your own mortality. Mark Leavitt experienced that “wake up call” when he spent Thanksgiving in 2007 at a cardiac cath lab. While he didn’t have a heart attack, he left with 3 stints and new outlook. He decided to take a hard look at his “comfortable life”…
What We Are Reading Newsletter from Jun 30, 2013
Today we are happy to bring you another interview in our Toolmaker Talk series. We had the great pleasure of speaking with Sampo Karjalainen, the designer and founder of Moves. Over fifty percent of U.S. adults have a smartphone. That’s a lot of people walking around with a multi-sensored computer in their pockets. Moves is another example of…
Here at QS we’re big fans of spaced repetition. We’ve seen it presented at various meetups where people have used different systems to learn languages, understand world geography, or in the case of today’s subject, become one of the biggest winners on Jeopardy. Roger Craig has the distinct honor of not only being a wonderful…
Earlier this year we discussed some very interesting research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project about the role of technology and the Internet in health and healthcare. We were lucky to have Susannah Fox, Associate Director at Pew, talk to us a bit about what it means when 21% of people who track…
In the fall of 2011 we hosted our first European Quantified Self Conference. It was a fantastic time and we came away with new ideas, and the pleasure of bringing together a great group of individuals interested in self-tracking and self-knowledge. We see a lot of relationships form and blossom as a result of the…
