The past couple of months I have heard much about the quantified self from a number of different sources. As a data person this got my attention first as a curiosity, and then as a potential convert. The tipping point was Scott Hanselman’s podcast with Chris Dancy, the world’s most quantified man.
The promise I am focused on is that merely collecting data will lead one to better and more informed decisions. Or as Radiohead put it: fitter, happier, more productive, comfortable, not drinking too much.
Past attempts to journal, or otherwise document my life have failed due to lack of consistent data entry. Today’s app world now has dozens of services that passively collect data on where you go, and what you do. OK, sounds a little NSA creepy. But the tradeoff is passively collected data. I go to the gym, and later I see it’s been recorded for me.
Another cool thing, especially for a data geek such as myself, is most of these services make the data available to the user, usually as a CSV download. So not only can I use built in data analysis tools, I can download, load, and combine with my own local data.
Here are a few of the app I am using to get started:
- Chronos
- Very detailed
- iPhone app keeps track of movements for passive data collection
- Foursquare
- No introduction needed here.
- Myfitnesspal
- Manual data entry required
- Very detailed tracking for diet and fitness goals
- IFTTT (It this then that)
- GUI driven data integration with a boat load of popular services
- AskMeEvery
- Simple interface for tracking measurable data (i.e. what’s my weight?)
- Integration with email and text messaging
