Integration of Memex and PlaceLab Datasets for Personal Investigations of Health and Living Patterns

People

PI: Stephen Intille ([lastname]@mit.edu)
Jennifer Beaudin
Randy Rockinson

House_n
MIT Dept. of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Granting Organization

Microsoft Corporation

Start Date

January, 2006 (check back here for more information as the project proceeds) 

Abstract 

Advances in ubiquitous computing and sensor technologies enable novel, longitudinal health monitoring applications in the home. Many home monitoring technologies have been proposed to detect health crises, support aging-in-place, and improve medical care. Health professionals and potential end users in the lay public, however, sometimes question whether home health monitoring is justified given the cost and potential invasion of privacy. Our recent work suggests that ubiquitous "monitoring" systems may be more readily adopted if they are developed as tools for personalized, longitudinal self investigation that help end users learn about the conditions and variables that impact their social, cognitive, and physical health. If done well, these same tools can then be used by researchers for ethnographic studies of people and their behaviors in non-laboratory settings. In this work we will use a live-in laboratory (the PlaceLab) to collect a two-month personal information store using multi-modal sensors, including the SenseCam. We will use this dataset to qualitatively explore the potential of sensor-driven diary systems to be used for personal health investigations and ethnographic health behavior research.

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