Future Now
The IFTF Blog
The Quantified Self continues to grow
As I have blogged before, I am a big fan of Gary Wolf, Kevin Kelly, and the trend they have identified as the "Quantified Self." They hold regular gatherings in the Bay Area for people engaged in tracking their personal data, which may or may not be health-related. I must confess that I attend these meetings not because I am a self-tracker, but out of sheer fascination with how and why other people are.
More than 50 people attended last night's meet-up, which was the 7th one since the group started in September 2008. We heard five presentations. One was not specifically health-related, but it blew me away. A woman shared with us her 19 volume "analog life log," a series of binders that hold an incredibly detailed, painstakingly assembled scrapbooks that serve as an archive for the details of her life, starting with her birth certificate. She also has a multi-volume journal, as well as a separate binder that serves as her personal health record (PHR). Much of the discussion focused on how she might go about digitizing this collection. Although she expressed a particular interest in figuring out how to intergrate her PHR, not much time was devoted to answering that question. I would be happy to pass along to her any insights you might have to offer about this dilemma.
On the health-tracking front, I was particularly interested in a CEO Mike Kirkwood's presentation about his tracking website, Polka and its "MyHealth" features.
From the website: "Polka is the first and only secure mobile aggregation and collaboration service to help you manage your health -- anytime, anywhere, all the time." Its web-based service is free, but it charges for its iPhone apps. Its primary tool, Observation Engine(tm), allows users to log their health status for personal use and communications with their health team. Using a Twitter-like 140 character form, people can enter observations about five key indicators of their health: weight, diet, sleep, exercise, well-being. (If they choose to, they can share these health observations with followers on Twitter.)
One can then chart one's personal metrics over time:
The site also offers the ability to geomap one's observations; this functionality will provide another potentially useful layer of information to understanding one's health.
I have yet to use any of the health data tracking services that are available, but I think I may give Polka a whirl.