onsdag den 4. december 2013

Big Data is Big Business - twitter data worth 200 mill dollars


Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook holds up the new iPad Air during an Apple event in San Francisco, California October 22, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

We have in Humansensing argued that the new empirical source: sensor data, ecological momentary assessment and log data should be paid far higher interest in research.
Regarding the last empirical data source, log data they document ecological digital behaviour, you can analyse on a segment level and move back to individual level. The researcher can have the choice.

The other argument for the usage of log data is the fact that they are cheap. The disturbance of the user is minimal and in some cases the resources spent on preparing equipment for is small.

All these argument seems to be suitable for Apple excerpt for the last.

"Apple buys startup Topsy; gets rich Twitter data" says the news from Reuter(Dec 2, 201).

Apple buys a compagny, Topsy, solely says the story, to get their hands on all twitter data from the start of Twitter till now. Few compagnies have that access and it is valuable for Apple because they cannot track(that is news for me) their own users usage of their mobile Apps.

The point is the prize of the access to the twitter data:
200 mill dollars.



mandag den 23. september 2013

Wiki article for Ecological Momentary Assessment submitted - wish me luck!

After 9 month on/off work on an article for wikipedia have I finally submitted the 9 pages for review.

The article gives an overview of the work on EMA. I believe there are quite a number of interesting points and considerations for most people working with EMA. 

It has not been accepted yet - it takes 3 weeks(mid october) before I get the judgement.

But I have printed the wiki-article out in case you are interested in a "sneak preview". Here it is: my Wikipedia article about "Ecological Momentary Assessment"

Half of the articles for wikipedia gets rejected. 
But in case it gets accepted the next task is to make it get integrated in the rest of wikipedia with links in relevant articles. 

And see how the article develops!

:-)
Morten






torsdag den 23. maj 2013

News from the gadgets frontier: Brainband, sensor armband and more - not really mature yet


The sensor market blooms. Every month new devices are being delivered to market. 
Here I present 3 that my network has found relevant for me to know about. '
I have not had the gadgets in my hand, but have read about the products on their webpages. I belive for our purpose it it relevant to evaluate the products with respect to 4 properties


  1. Sampling rates of the sensor data
  2. Export facility
  3. Connection to mobile
  4. 'Research aimed?

 Melon, a stylish EEG headband  that Measures Your Mental Focus

Melon is a EEG sensor that aims to quantify your concentration. Melon collects a minimal number og EEG waves and predicts where your attention are at and how concentrated you are.



http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672577/kickstarting-a-headband-for-measuring-your-mental-focus#6


  1. Sampling rates of the sensor data
    The Sampling rates of the EEG is ....low. The commercial/webpage do not describe how low but a headband cannot collect much EEG waves with only one sensor spot in the band. 
  2. Export facility
    Usually manufactors have a business model that includes differentiating between consumers and professionals of one kind or another. No such differentiation is at hand at the webpage and there are no export facility. But the connection to the mobile phoneu is an integral part of the product and the visualisation of the probabilty based analysis and credible.
  3. Connection to mobile
    Yes, integral part of the product. 
  4. 'Research aimed?
    No not a all.


Scanadu Scout - A scanner packed with sensors that enables anyone to conduct sophisticated physical exams — in a snap.

 Scanadu Scout is device that collects a number of sensordata about the individual and give insight to patients themselves.

http://www.scanadu.com/scout/



  1. Sampling rates of the sensor data
    The webpage does not include features yet, and which sensors that are being built into the "Scout" is unknown.
  2. Export facility
    Is not possible to say yet - due to the inmaturity of the webpage. But it is likely that it will be able to export data due to the promoted product quality "....
    enables anyone to conduct sophisticated physical exams". 
  3. Connection to mobile
    Unknown.
  4. 'Research aimed?
    Not at all - aimed at consumers. 



BASIC - GET ACTIVE,BOOST ENERGY

Basic is a wristband filled with sensors, heart rate patterns, motion, perspiration and skin temperature are being captured. 

https://app.mybasis.com/



  1. Sampling rates of the sensor data
    Again, something is missling in the webpage of the BASIC. tracks heart rate, motion, persiration and can calculate sleep patterns, kalories used and so on. But a more accurate description of the data collected is missing. 
  2. Export facility
    The users request it - even a simple version but it seems as if the compagny dont even reply the users request. 
  3. Connection to mobile
    The Basic Dashboard is larger and needs to be studied/used at a PC screen. It is probably an HTML5 thing and therefore possible to view on a mobile but not recommendable.  The mobile device to be used is the BASIC watch itself. 
  4. 'Research aimed?
    No.

The conclusions must be 
- that the none of the products are attractive for research purposes. 
- these devices do not seeem attractive yet. But when/if they reach a sufficient large market it is most likely that they will extend the product with export facilities and better sensors that enables the devices to be used for research purposes. The devices can be cheap. 
It can be low fidelity but high volume tests.




onsdag den 22. maj 2013

Humansensing seminar - sensored!

The humansensing seminar exposed the variaty of activities at the humanistic faculty within humansensing. It spans from clinical like experiments to real world diaries. The hot discussion topic was how the large amount of quantitative data can be integrated in human science. A good day.




As the tradition prescribes a number of the active participants at the Humansensing seminar were wearing sensors. Four individuals: Anders Bonde(MÆRKK, Britta Frederiksen(Musictherapy), Niels Hannibal(Musik therapy) and Morten Aagaard(IndiMedia).

The data is collected in almost the time time interval. Britta data include context data too.

But the figures - the numbers differs remarkable.

Happy analysis!




torsdag den 4. april 2013

Invitation to Humansensing seminar 2013, May 3rd 815-14, Nyhavnsgade 14(Friis building), room 2.39

Program for the Humansensing seminar 2013
When: May 3rd, 815-14
Where: Nyhavnsgade 14(Friis building), room 2.39
Enrollment - please click here


815 Coffee & registration
830 Research field:   Humansensing
Morten Aagaard,phd  
This years Humansensing seminar documents a growing interest in challenges within an umbrallo entitled “Humansensing” across a number of research fields. What constitutes the field in terms of fundamental theoretical questions, experiences with tools and methods and finally which challenges are investigated.
845 Ecological Momentary Storytelling – bringing down organizational
stress through qualifying work-life stories
Katja Lund,phd
We have in this user-test examined ways in which a combination of ecological momentary assessments and reflective dialogues can provide a methodological framework for qualifying work-life stories in the process of reducing organizational stress. Focusing on hearing impaired people in the Danish work force as well as primary school teachers, we have used a stress tracking method based on HRV-measurements coupled with mobile questionnaires and reflective dialogues. Findings in the user-test indicated that the method is a tool that creates a story-based foundation on which it is possible to start a process of talking about own experiences, stress and stressors, strategies, contexts etc. when dealing with organizational stress.
930 Measuring Emotion and Gameplay Experience in
Real-time with Electroencephalography 
Tom Garner, ass.professor
This presentation outlines and discusses the data obtained from a recent study into the impact of fear-eliciting sound stimuli upon human EEG within a computer video game context. Participants were required to play a bespoke game level whilst EEG data was collected from an Emotiv EPOC, a commercial-grade EEG headset. Biometric data was synchronised to and assessed alongside: video of player’s facial expression, event-log data and retrospective qualitative data, for affective contextualisation. Results revealed a repeating pattern of EEG response data, suggesting that the Emotiv EPOC may have the potential to automatically recognise player emotion in real-time.
1015 Break
1030 Measuring Emotional Experience Elicited by Sound Installations
Anders Bonde, ass.professor


In my presentation I will discuss some preliminary results of a joint study on audiences’ emotional experiences with interactive features of media art. The study, which took place at Zentrum für Kunst und Medientchnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, centred on 12 sound art installations (compiled under the title ‘The Unheard Avant-gardes in Scandinavia’), and the object of the study was to find out whether the possibility of user interaction influences affective response and makes a difference for the experience. In the study, we used a mixed-method approach combining psycho-physiological measures, observed behaviour and self-reporting. 59 people agreed to wear a BodyMedia sensor (measuring galvanic skin response) while engaging with the art installations. They were told to move around in their own pace while we stayed in the background observing at what time they entered each installation, and at what time they left to enter into a new one. When finished they were asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning their emotional experience. We have not yet analyzed the results systematically, though it appears that there is a connection between level of user interaction and time spent. As for the sensor data, being a measure of the electrical conductance of the skin varying in moisture level, which may indicate shifting states of affect, mood or emotion, it was our hypothesis that the interactive devices made a significant difference in that regard. At the present moment, this issue remains to be investigated. 
1115 Test experimences evaluating musictherapy sessions with GSR sensor
Britta Frederiksen, phd 

In this presentation I will present the results of GSR measurements from a pilot study in my phd study. The phd study is a mixed method case study with the title: “The development of the therapeutic relationship in music therapy with forensic psychiatric inpatients with schizophrenia. I am in the process of evaluating the GSR measurements and if they can be used in a triangulation of qualitative data in my phd study. 
1200 Lunch
1245 Can media experience be measured with GSR sensors?
Morten Aagaard, phd 
At 4.semester humanistic information science at the Department of Communication & Psychology  a larger empirical experiment has taken place. 160 students have been exposed to a stimuli material while having measured their  GSR value. Futhermore the students were psychographically segmentised. The results of the analysis  will be presented and challenges when working with large amounts of data will be presented.
1330 General experiences in empirical work in Humansensing - final discussion 
Discussion, Niels Hannibal, ass.professor



For more info - contact Morten Aagaard.

Enrollment - please click here