Thursday, April 26, 2012

Towards an Internet of Actions

Denis Harscoat from DidThis visited our lab for another time to talk about quantified self (slides) and an emerging Internet of Action in my lecture. Denis started off with rather broad insights about our evolution. The adaption of genes to our environment takes more than 10.000 years, so humans learned to short-cut by developing culture, habit and practices (e.g. we wear coats in winter time). However, culture change is still slow, thus, we are interested in best practices. Now, instead of relying thoughts, beliefs and preferences, self-tracking technologies empower a "data-driven life".
Thus, Denis wants to establish an Internet of Actions where the community can propose practices and routines which can be picked up by others. Users can promote actions on DidThis. An example is PlankADay which appears to be a very effective exercise. DidThis collects the adoption of this activity by other users and provides insights into the uptake. DidThis could institutions and organizations to promote activities people could benefit from. 
I'm looking forward to the data-driven life gaining traction on DidThis.