On the Go

Josh’s SXSW Blog, Part 2

Josh Knowles

Catch up on the hot topic of bio-networking and read more firsthand observations from the SXSW Interactive Festival.

The impact of mobile tech on health and wellness is a huge topic these days. Presenter Kate Bauer valiantly tried to take it on herself in a panel called "Bio-Networks: Using Mobile Technology to Impact Healthstyle [1]." Kate, a recent graduate of New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, began her presentation by discussing how people are already using mobile devices in non-standard ways - when someone uses the light from the screen as a flashlight in a dark room, for example. She also brought up the more complex example of how mobile tech helped solve graffiti problems in some British public restrooms. To get into the loo, one would send a text message that would unlock the door. Since text messages have identity information attached to them, this action would allow the proprietor of said loo to track who was responsible for messing it up. Apparently this worked out quite well. As a final example, Kate brought up work she had done as a student that allowed people to check the status of their homes using their mobile devices. Did you leave on the iron? Text it. Leave on the lights? Text them. This sort of monitoring and reporting interested Kate and led her into bio-networking research.

Next, Kate gave an overview of the state of bio-networking. She suggested that Nike Plus might be the most high profile bio-networked device on the market at the moment. Nike Plus [2] is a system that works with your iPod to track your running activity. It works via a little Bluetooth device you stick in your shoe and allows you to see how far you've run, set goals, compete against friends, etc. She also mentioned a wristwatch for diabetics that unobtrusively measures glucose levels and displays them in an easy-to-check digital format and can send the wearer alerts if their health might be in danger. Another similar product is a "smart bra" that can detect potential tumors by analyzing changes in breast temperature. Many of these sorts of products, Kate observed, are still just at the design or prototyping stage, and have yet to hit the market. But they're on their way.

One commonality she made sure to drive home was the general technological design of these sorts of products. They have three parts: They collect data, they transmit data and they display data back to the user in a useful way. Collect, transmit, display - I think this is an important formula and gets to the heart of why we might see a huge number of bio-networked products in coming years. Any sensor you can think to buy can be connected to a Bluetooth device and send data straight to your mobile device. And once there, it becomes fairly simple to push that data back out however you would like — to a webpage, on the device's own display, as aggregated statistics, etc. The trick is knowing how to sense and interpret data properly - no easy trick - but the mobile and wireless tech to get your data from here to there is pretty much straight-out-of-the-box these days.

Kate's graduate thesis is Ovü [3], a device that a woman wears around her upper arm to detect changes in her body temperature and, thus, to detect changes in her fertility. Ovü allows the woman to calibrate the device and then will send occasional reminders via text message to both the woman and her partner (if desired) when she is at her peak fertility. The device is essentially a thermometer wired to an Arduino [4] chip and a Bluetooth transmitter, both of which are contained in the armband. These send to the phone, which has software that relays the data on to the Ovü website.

There were several design lessons Kate took away from the project. One: don't reinvent the wheel. She took the complex method women generally use to calculate their fertility and automated it in such a way as to allow the wearer more control over the data. Two: for a wellness device to be properly used, it mustn't be too intrusive into a person's life. Instead of looking like a medical device or a mobile widget, Ovü is a lacey armband that could easily pass as some bit of fashion flair. And three: the display is the most important feature. If people don't understand the data their collecting, it's worthless. And they need to be able to view the data in as many ways as possible and mine it in different ways. The more the user can do with their data, the better. This last point leads to what may be the most important thing about this new breed of bio-networked devices, according to Kate: if people control their own health and wellness data and can check it and keep an eye on it as one might check one's bank account or credit rating, then people will be on the whole much more in-tune to their own health and physiology. They will be able to make better choices and ultimately lead much healthier lives.

What do you think the future holds for bio-networking and technological advancements in health and wellness? Add your thoughts in the comments section.

You can also read Part 1 of my SXSW blog [5]. And stay tuned for Part 3!

[1] http://2008.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels_schedule/?action=show&id=IAP060309
[2] http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
[3] http://katiebauer.com/ovu/
[4] http://www.arduino.cc/
[5] http://workshop.nseries.com/2008/03/12/on-the-go-joshs-sxsw-blog-part-1/326

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