May
I was recently interviewed by Details Magazine for this month’s May issue to discuss the quantified self movement since I help to co-organize the NY Meetup group. I think the author takes an overly critical of the field, but there are some interesting points made each way.
“By the time Andrew Paulus, a 23-year-old product manager for a Manhattan-based start-up, has brushed his teeth and slipped into his standard uniform of a T-shirt and dark pants each morning, he has already charted and evaluated his sleep, recorded the nutritional content of his breakfast (usually a Larabar), and likely quantified and cataloged his mood. Throughout the day, Paulus, a regular runner with tousled blond hair, tracks more personal data, including his location (both above- and belowground), time spent meditating, and daily wardrobe choices relative to the weather…”
Apr
In this article Kevin Durant explains his drive to be the best and his decision to hire his own personal analytics expert.
Really interesting to see such a high profile NBA player embracing personal analytics to the degree where KD has his own analytics expert. It seems like it is only a matter of time now until all high profile athletes either have their own personal analytics expert or are endorsing their preferred analytics platforms.
Maybe personal analytics is the new gatorade.
Apr
Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill released an interesting study that explored taking menu calorie information a step farther by quantifying the effort required to burn off the calories. It seems that people have a hard time contextualizing the concept of what calories mean to them and that showing the required physical effort needed to offset their menu choice makes them not only eat healthier but that they also prefer it.
This study also reminds me of the NYC public awareness posters that show you how far on a map of Manhattan you would have to walk to burn off the calories in a bottle of soda. This information is much easier to understand than a calorie number and has been proven to entice viewers to make lower-calorie choices.
Taking this another step out you can imagine having a personal workout plan dynamically crafted for you based on what you’ve eaten and being able to see the future impact on your exercise routine for different menu choices.
There was a significant difference in the mean number of calories ordered based on menu type (p = 0.02), with an average of 1020 calories ordered from a menu with no nutritional information, 927 calories ordered from a menu with only calorie information, 916 calories ordered from a menu with both calorie information and minutes to walk to burn those calories, and 826 calories ordered from the menu with calorie information and the number of miles to walk to burn those calories. The menu with calories and the number of miles to walk to burn those calories appeared the most effective in influencing the selection of lower calorie meals (p = 0.0007) when compared to the menu with no nutritional information provided. The majority of participants (82%) reported a preference for physical activity based menu labels over labels with calorie information alone and no nutritional information. Whether these labels are effective in real-life scenarios remains to be tested.
Apr
Apr
Ira Glass on storytelling
You get into this thing…but there is this gap…
For this first couple years that you are making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good…but your taste is still killer…and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you…a lot of people never get past that phase, a lot of people at that point, they quit. The thing I would say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know that does interesting creative work work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be, they knew it fell short…everyone goes through that…you gotta’ know its totally normal and the most important possible thing you can do, is do a lot of work, do a huge volume of work, put yourself on a deadline so every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story, whatever it’s going to be.
