San Francisco based QS Labs and Hanze UAS’ very own Quantified Self Institute (QSI) have set course for the future. From 12 – 19 June Gary Wolf of QS Labs visited the Netherlands with two team members to establish closer ties with Hanze UAS, determine which course to take in the coming years and host the world’s number one QS event in Amsterdam: Quantified Self Conference 2017.
The initial days of the visit were all about alignment, articulation & action. After aligning content, QS Labs and QSI made an exciting step during a pressure cooker session – moderated by renowned storyteller Paul Hughes – with a compelling new definition of Quantified Self: Personal discovery through everyday science. QS enables us to make personal discoveries and the process of it closely resembles the scientific approach: formulating the research question, gathering the necessary data, interpreting this data and answering said research question. The tools and methods used in this process are as common as everyday stuff, hence the use of the term everyday science. Moreover, plans were made to make a joint academic statement, establish a Wikipedia page on QS and develop a QS teaching programme. Finally, there was a lot attention for education throughout the week. For more on that please read our article about the Summer School Global Health & Quantified Self.
Left to right: Gary Wolf, Justin Timmer,
Hilbrand and Anniek Lentferink
Quantified Self Conference 2017
Grand finale of this intensive week was of course the Quantified Self Conference 2017 in Amsterdam. It was a lively edition: two days of presentations on a wide variety of QS projects and lots of networking. Martijn de Groot of Quantified Self Institute remarked that, “tools and methods of Quantified Self keep getting better, experiences stemming from the use of them richer and the communication regarding practice and learning from these experiences seems to keep on growing.” One of the clear trends that emerged during the conference was that of high frequency sampling. Contrary to earlier methods in which e.g. activity was measured on a daily basis, more and more self-trackers are going for a higher frequency of gathering data, in some cases almost constant.
For Hanze UAS the conference was an important event, with Hanze UAS visiting professor Gary Wolf as organizor/speaker, and junior researcher Justin Timmer and QSI director Martijn de Groot as speakers, as well as many more Hanze UAS staff among the participants. One of the great features of the conference was the variety of topics, in terms of devices used, variables measured and methods of analysis. For a quick glance at some of the most interesting aspects presented during the conference, check out this article by NEO.LIFE. You can also check out this great show and tell by Robin Weis to get an idea of the type of projects presented during the conference.
