The Quantified Self: You Are Your Data
- Posted by: David Pescovitz
- on February 3, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Boing Boing’s David Pescovitz on better living through extensive self-measurement
Since 1955, Jerry Davidson has obsessively written down everything he does during the day: visits to the store, telephone calls, meals, sex. Davidson has an impenetrable code, involving abbreviations and multiple colors of inks. A star on the top of a page means Jerry had a good day. Davidson never writes in the first person though, always in the third. He takes himself out of his experiences. His life is raw data.
When I first heard Jerry’s story, on a 1998 episode of This American Life, I thought he was just another interesting eccentric, like so many people featured on that radio program. Hearing the same program a few weeks ago though made me realize that Jerry Davidson is a pioneer. If Jerry lived in Silicon Valley and ran in the right nerd circles, he’d realize he isn’t alone in his unique habit of self-measurement. Indeed, he’s just another “quantified self,” a person who embraces the technology at hand—in his case scraps of paper and colored markers—for deep self surveillance and analysis. A growing number of individuals are using new sensors, social networks, online data repositories, open-access science journals, and sheer discipline to view their bodies, minds, and spirits through the lens of data.
A look at the Quantified Self Wiki reveals the breadth of what people are learning about themselves. Alexandra Carmichael, co-founder of CureTogether, records 40 things about her daily life, including “sleep (bed time, wake time, sleep quality, naps), morning weight, daily caloric intake (each meal, total calculated at end of day, mealtimes, mood, day of menstrual cycle, sex (quantity, quality), exercise (duration, type),” etc. Tim Graham, a master of data visualization, collected and visualized data about the email spam he receives, how much he drinks (not just alcohol), and, “where it hurts.” And Gary Wolf, a tech journalist and co-host of the wiki, is measuring his “blood pressure, heart rate, time asleep, time awake, sleep quality, perception of being rested, mood, harmony w/spouse, work hours, coffee and tea consumption.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of obvious that if you step on a scale, there should be something that sends the information to your computer?” Wolf was quoted as saying in a recent Washington Post article. “Isn’t it ridiculous to think that blood pressure shouldn’t be measured at least once a day, if not several times a day?”
If Wolf is the practical mind pushing the quantified self meme ahead, fellow writer Kevin Kelly is the philosopher of the movement. With Wolf, Kelly keeps The Quantified Self blog, a clearinghouse of self-surveillance information, and co-hosts the Bay Area’s Quantified Self Show & Tell meetups, one of which was held at Institute for the Future, where I’m a research director.
“Unless something can be measured, it cannot be improved,” Kelly wrote on the Quantified Self blog. “So we are on a quest to collect as many personal tools that will assist us in quantifiable measurement of ourselves. We welcome tools that help us see and understand bodies and minds so that we can figure out what humans are here for.”
Even the Nike+iPod system is decidedly a quantified self tool, complete with networking capabilities to compare your progress with others online. Others a bit more niche: StressEraser is a pocket-sized digital biofeedback device that measures stress so you can stay calm. The Youw8 Internet Body Monitor fulfills Wolf’s dream to wirelessly transmit weight data to your PC for analysis. BodyMedia’s SenseWear BMS device keeps a vigil on energy expenditure, activity and sleep.
Whether you use a stopwatch or an advanced biosensor to collect your personal data, the next step is often uploading, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing the info online. Bedpost helps you quantify your sex life. Mon.thly.info tracks and predicts menstrual cycles. Bricolage Labs offers an online collaboration platform for “discovery through self-experimentation, tinkering, and trial-and-error.”
Now, as Wolf has pointed out, the level of self-knowledge he and his Quantified Self kinfolk seek isn’t for everyone. The Quantified Self is a spectrum, and it’s up to you to find your own place within its potential. My Nike+iPod is in a perpetual state of zero acceleration. However, my wife and I are dedicated users of PearBudget, a dead simple tool to track and manage your spending. Categories, compatibility with Excel, and the defining Web 2.0 technology of tags make it easy to take a long, hard look at where our money goes. Data is truth. It calls you on your bullshit. And at its core, that seems to be what the quantified self is ultimately about.
“For a certain type of person, data is the most important thing you can trust,” Wolf has said.
Jerry Davidson, with his 50 years of colorful comprehensive diaries would certainly agree.
David Pescovitz is co-editor of Boing Boing, research director at Institute for the Future, and editor-at-large of MAKE.
DISCUSSION: 34 Comments
Surprised not to see Daytum mentioned in this context.
I’m diabetic. I count carbs, exercise, sleep, stress (which includes almost everything), all to regulate the most important thing I count, blood sugar. This article is interesting, but I don’t want to join these blogs, or even read them. Is there anything conclusive or enlightening in general to be gleaned from all this? Or is it every man for himself? Do people find that self-data reinforces scientific data and/or basic common sense? Actually, some of the tools mentioned deserve a look-see; they might be helpful in my very single-minded goal of keeping blood glucose levels “normal.”
That pretty picture of the body with the glowing spots and the measurements labeled “Where Does It Hurt”… What is that and where can I get it? It’s similar to what I envision in my brain when I think of software to help me track my health – cept I’m no programmer.
If all communication goes digital and you want to get a message out opposing the government,how would you do it?
“If all communication goes digital and you want to get a message out opposing the government,how would you do it?”Notated.Ewige Blumenkraft und ewige Schlangenkraft
Pathological narcissism disguised as empirical discipline – that’s awesome! But enough about you; let’s text about ME.
This COULD become an evolutionary step in science… from generalization, to case study, to self-study (without requiring problematic generalization). Instead of using a sampling of data to generalize about the masses (which in some fields, can seem to have reached its limits: “[A] causes cancer… [A] cures cancer…” etc…), alternatively: self-awareness, self-regulation and self-improvement through the scientific method. From my point of view, using self-awareness to improve oneself is not vanity; it’s maturity, and it’s often the missing link in social problems (drinking: David Hasselhoff’s video); self-help minimizes social impact (cost AND spread of the problem). I think this could take MANY fields to new levels…
Monitoring everything you do, is only gonna make you stressed…
i think that it kind of cool that you can do that i would really want to become a part of this but the only proublem is my adge what is the adge in youe bissness
hey, don’t forget http://www.athlinks.com ! This site finds your race scores from all over the world, allows you to plot your workout progress, hooks you up with like-minded athletes, as well as points out your friendly rivals, and helps you meet others who race with you locally and globally, it’s awesome!!! For swimmers, there is http://www.swimroom.com , enjoy!
I love the 1950s sci-fi air about this article. The statement made about nothing “being able to be improved without being measured” is truly ossified in a classic mid-century faithfulness to the scientific method. It’s Old School, most importantly in its literalism. What benefits do measuring these particular values bring? Isn’t it a bit arrogant to assume that the human condition can be distilled down to those specific values? And to the ipod, does creating a community to make us aware of our connectedness really just boil down to “who’s better than me” again? It’s not the technology that bothers me, it’s the mindset with which we approach it.
Some new Tech is ok But alot of it is waste of money , I believe Home security and keeping people working And Gov to “Support Our Troops Better” .
“My Nike+iPod is in a perpetual state of zero acceleration.”You mean to say that it is in a perpetual state of acceleration. If it was not being constantly accelerated by gravity it would float away since Earth moves in a circular orbit.
This is a great way to help people set goals and improve the general quality of their lives. It makes perfect sense but is only accomplishable if you have such deep self-discipline that you can bring yourself to keep track of every single thing you do.
Funny that nowhere in the article is there any explanation about how these measurements are being used to improve things. How does measuring how much (non-alcohol) or every little ache and pain improve their lives? How about a hint?
“This is a great way to help people set goals and improve the general quality of their lives.”Set goals for what? The person mentioned who measures how much sleep they get every day – what’s the goal? Is it more sleep, less sleep, optimizing sleep? No goals were mentioned. Not a word was written about how this is improving a single life.There’s talk about measuring weight after waking, but no talk about why. Is there a goal to lose weight, gain weight, connect weight to other aspects of daily life? What’s the point? Could the author have at least given us a clue?
Great article, David! Interesting to see the polarized comments. I always find authenticity to be a powerful polarizer. I love your quote, “Data is truth. It calls you on your bullshit.”. Thanks for mentioning CureTogether – we’re proud to be part of this movement towards greater self-understanding.
Umm, am I the only one who thinks this is the most ridiculous thing the have ever read? Measure your blood pressure multiple times a day? Why? I have mine measured about once a month. I’m still alive and happy. Obvious that when you step on a scale it should send the info to your computer? Honestly, that thought has NEVER crossed my mind. I guess I just don’t understand the point. What purpose does this serve? Well, other than being a complete waste of time that could be spent doing something better.
haha, from one point of view, this is a really interesting way to scientifically keep yourself in great shape in both body and mind. but from another point of view, it just looks like group of obsessive compulsive nerds.
Loved the aticle it was bery interesting.
I can see how much of this information could be useful. However, if too much time were spent recording data about one’s self, one might miss out on other life experiences. All depends on how one likes to spend time, I suppose.
A rather interesting article. But it does seem that they keep adding things of this sort all the time. A “self help” manual, as i were.Someone actually using this information may actually feel more stressed, thinking they actually *have* to do all this every day, thus increasing the faction of stress.Of course, there are those people who might just need this sort of thing to understand what they are doing wrong in their daily lives.All in all, if we were all (those on this planet) to use this system of operations, more than 60% or so would actually become more stressed by adding something they don’t necessarily need in the first place.CheersProgressive_Scan@Live.com
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. —Albert Einstein
MSN links to this story with a headline about using tech to augment yourself. How does measuring your blood pressure, weight, or the amount of liquid you drink count as augmenting yourself?
““My Nike+iPod is in a perpetual state of zero acceleration.”" “You mean to say that it is in a perpetual state of acceleration. If it was not being constantly accelerated by gravity it would float away since Earth moves in a circular orbit.”Wrong. Since the Earth’s orbit is at a constant speed of about 10,000 mph, a state of zero-acceleration easily identifies an object at rest. The object is currently moving at 10,000 mph x the rotational speed of the Earth, about another 15,000 mph. No acceleration is taking place. If the item in question was in a state of constant acceleration, it would very quickly outrun the movement of the Earth. And, as for the affection of gravity being a constant acceleration – also wrong, Once an item at one of two places – the closest outer surface parallel to the force of gravity, or at terminal velocity – no acceleration is present.