Papers
In this response I will discuss two papers relating to personal informatics, both of which present models which describe how users interact with the system.
Personal Informatics
In the past ten years a new class of application has arisen, personal informatics. As it has become easier to record data, the desire to process and analyze it has increased. The authors of both papers consider personal informatics to be a practice, not a tool, and if considered this way the practice is not old. Certain people, such as Ben Franklin, had the patience to record information pertaining to themselves for years and years and on. Technology changes the equation in two ways, making it easier (or even automatic) to record the data and improving the tools for analyzing it.
What? Why?
The underlying question behind personal informatics seems to be 'why?'. The stage based model paper discusses it only briefly, but suggests that reflection is the key. In a later work, the understand my data paper, they suggest that behavioral change is a key motivating factor. While creating models and workflows and interviewing users can shed some light on the tools people are using and their goals in using them, the cost benefit equation of personal informatics has not been completely decided. Does recording meals help people who are struggling to lose weight? Are people who struggle with conscientiousness, willpower or self control really likely to be diligent plodding collectors of data? It seems at first glance that a person who can't force themselves to abstain from pie cannot force themselves to record either. If the purpose of PI is to change behavior, then it can be evaluated like any other method in this role. So what then is PI for?
Self Experimentation
When the paper authors discuss reflection they make no real distinction between a user casually reflecting over events in a journal, old pictures and emails and those doing experiments and investigations. But the later is far more interesting then the former. For a user trying to determine why they can't sleep, a tool which tracks their sleep can provide a baseline while they experiment with other variables, such as caffeine, lighting and exercise.
Seeking Utility
While users do follow certain 'models' when they use PI tools, the models themselves might not be that important. Certainly users begin using a PI tool by evaluating it, recording data with it, and then reflecting on it ... but this is common sense and generalizing this doesn't solve a real problem. And categorizing the general types of PI tools as well is also interesting, but it doesn't solve the real utility. Perhaps users enjoy recording and visualizing data about themselves in it self but probably not most people. To extend PI applications into the mainstream they need to provide a more clear utility to actual users. PI researchers should push users to show what utility they really get out of these tools and derive ways to make them more useful.
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