The Quantified Self (aka “QS”) is an informal San Francisco based group of people who are tracking one thing or another about their lives. (Could it exist anywhere else??) They have occasional “Show&Tell” meet-ups, with elbow-rubbing and a series of quick talks, 10-15 minutes each.
A few weeks ago I was in town for a talk at the northern California chapter of HIMSS on personal health records. Matthew Holt of Health 2.0 and The Health Care Blog told me QS was meeting that Monday, at the headquarters of Wired magazine.
I registered, and at the end it asked “You wanna present?” I never say no to that, though I didn’t know what I’d talk about.
Turns out host Gary Isaac Wolf was really interested in the little spreadsheet where I’d tracked my tumor sizes as my treatment progressed. :–) So in the context of “quantified self,” my topic became “the quantified patient.”
This is an informal production – audio from a camcorder (no mic) blended with my slides and a few other images. It was fun: a responsive, engaged audience. Thanks to the QS gang for the opportunity.
Related notes –
- QS is a project of Wired‘s Gary Isaac Wolf (Associate Editor) and Kevin Kelly (Founding Executive Editor). “KK,” as he’s known, is also on the advisory board of our Journal of Participatory Medicine.
- KK’s videos on Vimeo include several others from that night. (Arg: the room was so full the camera had to shoot the speakers from the side – no slides!)
- Among the other presenters that night:
- Spectacular e-patient and #getupandmove entrepreneur Jen McCabe
- Spectacular human and entrepreneur Esther Dyson, also on JoPM’s advisory board.
Well done Dave! You are a true inspiration and effective spokesperson for this promising movement.
That’s a nifty application. Much better than the rudimentary skeleton in my high school biology class.