Art: “Quotidian Record” by Brian House (2012)

Quotidian Record is a custom-made vinyl record, featuring Brian’s location-tracking data over a year. The data is mapped to a harmonic relationship from 365 days down to approximately 11 minutes. This project connects digital information to the physical world though music. I find it a very unique and interesting way to visualize the data that can be easily forgotten and make it tangible and memorable.

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Industry: Fitbit

I am still deciding on the type of data I’d like to collect, and that would also determine the tool I use. Fitbit is definitely on top of the list. One idea is to track the amount of sleep I get each night, and how that affects my daily activities the following day.

Academia: “Understanding Quantified-Selfers’ Practices in Collecting and Exploring Personal Data” by Eun Kyoung Choe, Nicole B. Lee, Bongshin Lee, Wanda Pratt, and Julie A. Kientz (2014)

link to paper

Even though everyone tracks something about themselves, this paper looks into the “extreme users” – the quanified-selfers, who diligently collect many different kinds of data about themselves. Through Meetup groups, blogging, and other outlets, they have shared their experiences of what they have found useful and the mistakes they recommend to avoid.  This paper will help me narrow down the data I should be collecting, thinking about how the data would be beneficial or appropriate for this project.

Goal:

Since I am looking to work with my personal data that is collected over time, the most appropriate outlet would be to be published on a few notable design blogs. However, my ultimate goal for this project is to learn a little bit more about myself through making this data permanent and tangible.