From My Friends

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From My Friends

Using biometric data in previous assignments, I would consistently arrive at a similar point where I had to justify a leap from quantitative data to a subjective conclusion. For example, deducing emtional states from EEG readings, GSR readings or from subjectively weighing words within emails. Instead of trying to diminish this gap by adding more data or sensors, I decided to embrace it. I wanted all of my data to be subjective. These thoughts just lead me to question "What are we recording this data for?" The two most obvious answers I could deduce were, 1. to become more self aware and to 2. to perceive things we are not capable of perceiving. With the second conclusion, this is the natural basis for all science but I am not a scientist so I decided on focusing on ways on allowing us to be more self aware and this is what lead me to develop From My Friends.

From My Friends is a mobile application that allows users to compare their own assessment of how they feel with their peers assessment on how they feel. It is an example of how to aggregate subjective data from a social network of peers to create, what I like to call a "Community Network", or a network that yields a communal gain. In this case, the participant's incentive is to recieve more information about oneself but the only way they can do that is to to give information back to the community they are in.

Heres how it works, There are twelve registered users. When ever a participant sees another participant, they will open up the application and mark how they perceive the other's mood. In order to assess someone else's mood they will first be asked to assess their own. The more data, the better the results. With that in mind, there is no limit as to how many times one person can assess another. At the end of the testing period, each user is given access to see how close their own mood assessment is to the mood assessment of their peers. The mood is selected by choosing one of 12 faces. The icons were created to reflect the Pediatric Pain Profile which is commonly used to quickly assess the degree of pain one is feeling in a medical environment. The interface and design of the application was to expedite the whole process. The quicker the process, the more times people could assess each other.

Overall this project was an experiment but a success. Although the data yielded from such a short test run was not conclusive of much, the data was not the main goal. Participants reported that they found themselves becoming more aware of both themselves and their friends. This was the ultimate goal, to explore a fundamental question. Can our technology help us to maintain a community? In a world full of distractions and directionless communication, there is a growing agitation and anxiety towards technology but it does not have to be this way. Developers and engineers have to ask themselves, how can my work yield not just a social gain but a communal gain.