Personal Informatics and Analytics

Collecting and analyzing personal data for insight and wellness

ActivityRiver allows people to track trends in their activities, thereby allowing them to plan future activities, and track differences between planned and actual activity. <em>Image source: wikihow</em>
ActivityRiver allows people to track trends in their activities, thereby allowing them to plan future activities, and track differences between planned and actual activity. <em>Image source: wikihow</em>

We are now awash in data about ourselves – some of which we collect on our own (e.g. FitBit), others of which are collected by us on our behalf (e.g. Google Location History), and others we are barely aware of being collected (e.g. your energy bill). In this project, we are looking for new ways of collecting this information, exploring this information, and devising ways of understanding this information [Huang, D., Tory, M., Aseniero, B., Bartram, L., Bateman, S., Carpendale, S., Tang, A., and Woodbury, R. (2015). Personal Visualization and Personal Visual Analytics. In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 420--433.] [Carpendale, S., Tory, M., and Tang, A. (2014). A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics. In DIS 2014 Companion: Proceedings of the 2014 Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems, 223--225.] . We have explored a variety of application spaces, including personal activity tracking [Aseniero, B., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2014). River: Using Personalisation to Support Reflection on Personal Activities. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.] , physical visualizations [Payne, J., Carpendale, S., and Tang, A. (2014). Physical Visualization and Personal Visual Analytics. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.] , and health applications [Rahman, S., Bhaskar, R., Maurer, F., and Tang, A. (2014). Supporting Chronic Headache Patientswith Visual Analytics. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.] [MacLeod, H., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2013). Personal informatics in chronic illness management. In GI '13: Proceedings of the 2013 Graphics Interface Conference, 149--156.] [Polleti, J., Baur, D., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2012). ECO|Balance - Exploring Design Issues for Mobile Persuasion. In Personal Informatics in Practice: Improving Quality of Life Through Data - Workshop at CHI 2012.] .

We are designing a migraine headache tracking tool that helps people understand the source and cause of their headaches.
We are designing a migraine headache tracking tool that helps people understand the source and cause of their headaches.

We are currently exploring new ways of visualizing this information in ways that address the specific and personal needs of users [Aseniero, B., Carpendale, S., and Tang, A. (2012). Deep Personalization in Tools for Reflection. In Personal Informatics in Practice: Improving Quality of Life Through Data - Workshop at CHI 2012.] , and for communication and interaction with health providers [MacLeod, H., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2013). Towards Personal Informatics Tools for Chronic Illness Management. In GRAND 2013: RNote Proceedings of the GRAND NCE 2013 Meeting.] [MacLeod, H., and Tang, A. (2013). Shared Displays for Facilitating Discussions on Patient Data. In Patient-Clinician Communication - Workshop at CHI 2013.] [macleod2013personalinformatics] . To do this, we have partnered with the Calgary Headache Assessment & Management Program, and are focusing on chronic headaches as a specific application space.

Publications

Huang, D., Tory, M., Aseniero, B., Bartram, L., Bateman, S., Carpendale, S., Tang, A., and Woodbury, R. (2015). Personal Visualization and Personal Visual Analytics. In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 420--433.
Carpendale, S., Tory, M., and Tang, A. (2014). A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics. In DIS 2014 Companion: Proceedings of the 2014 Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems, 223--225.
Aseniero, B., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2014). River: Using Personalisation to Support Reflection on Personal Activities. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.
Payne, J., Carpendale, S., and Tang, A. (2014). Physical Visualization and Personal Visual Analytics. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.
Rahman, S., Bhaskar, R., Maurer, F., and Tang, A. (2014). Supporting Chronic Headache Patientswith Visual Analytics. In PVA 2014: A Personal Perspective on Visualization and Visual Analytics - Workshop at DIS 2014.
MacLeod, H., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2013). Personal informatics in chronic illness management. In GI '13: Proceedings of the 2013 Graphics Interface Conference, 149--156.
Acceptance: 38% - 16/42.
Polleti, J., Baur, D., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2012). ECO|Balance - Exploring Design Issues for Mobile Persuasion. In Personal Informatics in Practice: Improving Quality of Life Through Data - Workshop at CHI 2012.
Aseniero, B., Carpendale, S., and Tang, A. (2012). Deep Personalization in Tools for Reflection. In Personal Informatics in Practice: Improving Quality of Life Through Data - Workshop at CHI 2012.
MacLeod, H., Tang, A., and Carpendale, S. (2013). Towards Personal Informatics Tools for Chronic Illness Management. In GRAND 2013: RNote Proceedings of the GRAND NCE 2013 Meeting.
MacLeod, H., and Tang, A. (2013). Shared Displays for Facilitating Discussions on Patient Data. In Patient-Clinician Communication - Workshop at CHI 2013.