CHLOE MARTEN
QUANT HUMANISTS
SPRING 2018
29 01 2018
Assignment 1: Blog Post: Reflection, link to assignment
I have gone through periods of self-tracking using various applications, but nothing has stuck as far as long-term tracking. Most recently I bought a Fitbit to measure my heart rate in hopes of correlating the data with other aspects of my life, such as work-related stress. I do not really use its data at this time, but I continue to track my daily fitness and biometrics in case I need it for future reference. In general, I am undecided about self-tracking.
I am interested in self-tracking for two reasons. First, I believe in empowering users with their data in order to draw their own conclusions for self-growth. Secondly, I am interested in the general cultural complacency to give away our personal data for a better, a more intuitive experience – is it worth it? I also question the implications of providing companies and developers with our data – can and will they use it against us?
In this course, I hope to gain a critical understanding of how our data can be used and to further develop the habit of gathering and tracking my own data. For my personal project, I want to explore “what my personal finances say about me?” using my historical transactions to map out my adult life. I aim to use the service Plaid to access my data via API. I am currently learning Python and expect some challenges in setting up a framework for accessing and visualizing my financial data but believe it will be worth the effort as I further develop my skills.
Very cool to read you're trying out Plaid 👍 . I'd be interested to know as well how you feel the fitbit has worked out for you. I recently read something about the futility of certain metrics we rely on to track our data, like heart rate, mostly related to fetal monitors but also expandable to our general tendency as humans to dissolve health awareness to one particular metric.