Blog

Tidings: QS Ann Arbor Meetup Recap

February 5, 2015

Today’s post comes to us from PF Anderson, Emerging Technologies Informationist for the Health Sciences, University of Michigan and a member of the QS Ann Arbor meetup group. It first appeared on her excellent Emerging Technologies Librarian blog and we’re happy to republish it here. Last week, I felt really lucky that I was able to make…

My Device, My Body, My Data

February 4, 2015

In 2007, after collapsing while rushing to board a train, Hugo Campos was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) was implanted in his chest to track and regulate his heart rhythm. To his great surprise, he discovered that it was very difficult to gain access to the data being generated inside his…

QS Access: Backing up HealthKit Data

February 3, 2015

As you may know, we’re very interested in how HealthKit is shaping and extending the reach of personal self-tracking data. Last week, during Apple’s quarterly earnings call, Tim Cook mentioned that “There’s also been incredible interest in HealthKit, with over 600 developers now integrating it into their apps.” (emphasis mine). This morning, we were alerted…

Beth Martin: Healing & Change Through Quantification

February 2, 2015

In 2013 Beth Martin was dealing with a failing startup, starting a new venture and working so much she moved her office into her bedroom to limit the time between waking and starting work. After a series of additional changes led her to near breakdown she decided to take six months off to rewrite her…

Meetups This Week

February 1, 2015

There are five Quantified Self meetups occurring this week in the United States and England! The original Quantified Self group, Bay Area, will be convening in San Francisco for a lovely slate of Show&Tell talks on dating, diabetes, and more. To see when the next meetup in your area is, check the full list of…

QS Access: Precision, Patients, and Participation

January 30, 2015

This morning President Barack Obama announced a new Precision Medicine Initiative, a key $215 million piece of the proposed 2016 budget. Much has been written since last week’s State of the Union, when this initiative was first mentioned by President Obama. In brief, the initiative is an investment in new programs and funding initiatives at…

Counting Money

January 29, 2015

Yesterday was the first day in a month that I handled cash. For weeks everything I’ve purchased and paid for has been handled by digital means. Debit cards, direct debits and deposits, internet purchases – it’s all 1’s and 0’s flowing through the tubes, and it’s makes my life very easy. However, now that the…

QS Access: Data Donation Part 1

January 27, 2015

New sensors are peeking into previously invisible or hard to understand human behaviors and information. This has led to many researchers and organizations developing an interest in exploring and learning from the increasing amount of personal self-tracking data being produced by self-trackers. Even though individuals are producing more and more personal data that could possibly…

Paul LaFontaine: Heart Rate Variability and Flow

January 26, 2015

Paul LaFontaine is on an incredible journey to understand himself, his stress, and how he works through consistent examination of his heart rate variability (HRV). We’ve featured a few of his talks here on the Quantified Self website, and we were happy to have him present at a Bay Area QS meetup this past December….

Meetups This Week

January 25, 2015

Eight wonderful QS meetup groups will be getting together this week in four different countries. Belfast and New Orleans are two new groups that will be having their very first events. Belfast is starting especially strong with a mother and son show&tell on using a new continuous glucose monitor system that doesn’t require finger prick calibration….

QS Access: Self-Report & Quantified Self in Health Research

January 23, 2015

As part of our new Access channel we’re going to highlight interesting stories, ideas, and research related to self-tracking data and data access issues and the role they take in personal and public health. We recently found this expert report, published in the International Journal of Obesity, that tackles issues with the data researchers rely on for…

QS Access: Ian Eslick on Personal Experimentation

January 21, 2015

“Science is really about repeatability, about process, about discipline, about characterization, about controlling noise, and there are lot of different mechanisms that we can pull together to tell a story or inform a decision.”- Ian Eslick This past April we were lucky to host a meeting of researchers, toolmakers, science funders, and government representatives for…

How to Represent a Year in Numbers

January 20, 2015

As the calendar turns over to a new year, it’s useful to look back and see what the last 365 days have been all about. Looking back is always easier when you have something to look back on, and, no surprise here, self-tracking is a great help for trying to figure out how things went….

Meetups This Week

January 18, 2015

There are an incredible 12 QS meetups getting together this week in seven different countries. Both Toronto and St. Louis will discuss how to use self-tracking tools to keep New Year’s resolutions. In Indianapolis, people will talk about their recently acquired tracking devices from the holidays. Geneva will be doing a review of 2014, where…

QS Access: New Data Privacy Legislation on the Horizon

January 16, 2015

“If we’re going to be connected, then we need to be protected. As Americans, we shouldn’t have to forfeit our basic privacy when we go online to do our business”.  – U.S. President Barak Obama In a speech this week at the the Federal Trade Commission President Obama spoke about new measures he hopes to…