My talk from Northern Voice 2013. There's an app to track nearly everything about ourselves: the calories we consume and burn, every penny we spend, the hours we sleep, every song we listen to--the list goes on and on. Why are we compulsive counters of ourselves and our lives? Over the past fifteen years, technology has enabled us to document and quantify nearly every aspects of our day-to-day existence. And the Internet has enabled us to share it and discover fellow self-trackers. This talk explores how and why an increasing number of people practice self quantification or 'sousveillance': Why do we track our lives this way? Does looking at this data change our behaviour? Why, having assembled the data, do we share it? Why would gathering all this data be a bad idea? Can we truly know ourselves through this practice? You'll leave this talk either inspired to start tracking your trips to the bathroom, or deeply unnerved by those who do.

1. Why we live the quantified life
@dbarefoot

2. Darren talks: 28 minutes
Audience talks: 17 minutes
Moments of wonder and delight: 4
Calories burned by nods of assent: 231
Seconds of applause: 9

3. When the screen goes
black, we go to the
studio audience

5. What is the
quantified life?

6. Why is it possible?
1. Electronic sensors got smaller and better
2. People started carrying around computers
3. Social media made it normal to share
4. “The Cloud” becomes a commonplace idea

7. Things I have counted
• Hours slept
• Calories consumed
• Calories burned
• Money spent
• Steps taken

8. More things I have counted
• Minutes spent studying
• Pages read
• Hours worked
• Words written
• Time spent

9. Still more things I have
counted
• Weights lifted
• Songs played
• Water consumed
• Urine passed
• Thoughts thunk

10. What else have you
counted?

11. We are all counters

18. Anecdotal vs. Empirical

19. Passive vs.Active

28. What apps are you
using?

29. In aggregate

33. Do you aggregate and
compare your data to
others?

34. Why?

36. “If you watch something, you
tend to get better at improving
on it.”
Dr. Mark Gerstein

37. “I think the Reports have made
me a much more aware of my
routines and grateful when I
can break from them.”
- Nick Felton

38. “You must not dilly-dally.”
-Buster Benson

39. “The more
you look,
the less you
really know.”

41. Why do you measure
your life? Why don’t
you?

43. Get ready.

44. Please applaud for
9 seconds

45. Stop clapping now

46. Other comments,
questions or
considerations?

47. DarrenBarefoot.com
@dbarefoot