The issue of compliance in personal informatics : a case study of sleep

The increased sophistication of embedded capture and access technology and the growth of communities such as the Quantified Self that advocate for the proliferation of these tools has brought personal informatics to the masses. However, personal informatics tools and methods are still far from ubiquitous. In this paper I discuss ways to incentivize use and improve compliance of personal informatics tools. As a case study, I describe a tool that I am in the process of developing. This tool measures sleep using the accelerometer found in many smart phones, by placing the phone on a bed sheet during sleep. The tool also tracks habits related to sleep, such as mood, and provides daily feedback, with progress logging and correlation analysis tools. The implication of this tool for public health and psychotherapy are discussed. Author