What’s Happening in the "Quantified Self" Movement?

Abstract

Rapid adoption of wearable tracking devices and motion sensitive apps has led to the development of the "Quantified Self" movement (QS). Some in the learning sciences community have begun to take notice and incorporate ideas from QS into the research and design of new learning environments. Yet the QS movement is still new enough that very little is known about it, and there are many open questions about how QS might be of value to the learning sciences. This paper provides some history of the movement and through a qualitative analysis of a public video corpus of QS presentations, identifies the variety of participants, the reported motivations driving individuals to self-quantify, and the data analysis activities of some individuals active in the movement. Opportunities for future research and design efforts in the learning sciences are also discussed.