New tool for raw data collection from wearables

Quantified Self QS newcomers
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Hi QS community,

Just saying hi and introducing a new nonprofit (PhysioQ) that is addressing 1) data collection from wearables and 2) making collaborative research projects a lot easier. (Without compromising on user data privacy and security). As someone that has been using wearables for self-hacking, I recognize the awesome work coming out of the QS community. This type of research is super important, so we want to support in whatever way we can.

  1. Data from wearables.
    A lot of you guys will be pros already at this stuff, but one of the big hurdles for people starting out in QS/data analysis is difficulty in getting the raw data for personal use. Sometimes it requires coding and understanding of APIs. At the minimum, it requires a lot of reading and messing around through poorly designed interfaces. PhysioQ is trying to make that easier with partnerships with wearable makers to get their data natively–not through their cloud (and their corporate terms/privacy policies). For people that are concerned about tech companies having access to your data, we offer an alternative.

  2. Research management and collaboration.
    Although a lot of these things have improved with technology, there hasn’t been many research-focused project management software that isn’t designed from pharma (that’s where the money is, go figure). PhysioQ helps you track your research in real-time. It just makes compliance a lot easier to track.

FYI, Our primary business case is academic researchers (that’s how this nonprofit will generate revenue) and the first use-cases will be in those settings. However, we think self-trackers, citizen-scientists, hackers, muckers (as Edison put it), will be so important to the progression of scientific breakthroughs, so I wanted to get some of your feedback regarding what we should be building.

Our service in a nutshell, just check this video: https://youtu.be/gZdJPV9p5X0 or at our website www.physioq.org

We are fans of the work Open Humans have done in the space. We are also a nonprofit working towards parallel goals, just with a little bit of a different offering and approach. I just wanted to get the ball rolling and learn more from you all to see how we can help (Perhaps create a QS-team workspace for projects)! Excited to be joining the community.

FAQ:
Privacy policy
In a nutshell, We are the caretakers and stewards of your data. We don’t own it, nor do we see it (encrypted). We will never sell it or give it third parties.
We structured as a nonprofit intentionally so we have no shareholders to report to and will never have any incentive whatsoever to sell data to others.
https://physioq.org/privacy-policy-app

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Can you say something concretely about how it works? I looked at the website but didn’t understand how the data got from the wearables into the hands of a user.

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Hi Gary,

Sorry, we are revamping the website, so some of it might be unclear. Here’s how it works, concretely (maybe too much info):

As someone just looking into your own data, if you own a Polar H10 or other supported wearable, you can use PhysioQ to create your own research project app. Instead of using Polar’s app (which uploads to their cloud and downsamples the data and removes the raw signal to save space), you use PhysioQ app which connects to the wearable natively through Bluetooth, getting all the raw data you want to collect. It then is uploaded to the cloud in raw format and can be downloaded through the Website in easy-to-read text format.

For 1 user, it’s only making data collection a bit easier (no coding required, 1 interface to download from multiple supported devices). But for groups that want to run a research project (say, looking at blood glucose and cold showers), it makes it a lot easier because participants only have to download 1 app and all the data is stored in one place. The project owner can see all of the participant’s progress in real-time and download data at any point to do their analysis.

We are actually working together with @azure on an academic project she is working on. She’s the one who mentioned QS community could benefit from a tool like this, so that’s why we are here.

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Hey Chris,

Do you guys have a latest privacy policy, list of compatible current data types, or set of directions that you could link to here?

And if you’re looking for user feedback that might be a good thing to write up here as well :slight_smile:

-Azure

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Hi Azure,

I updated the original post to include privacy policy. In a nutshell:
We are the caretakers and stewards of your data. We don’t own it, nor do we see it (encrypted). We will never sell it or give it third parties.

We structured as a nonprofit intentionally so we have no shareholders to report to and will never have any incentive whatsoever to sell data to others.

And yes, feedback please. For now, just learning more about the community.

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