Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

Intel is experimenting with a technology called SENS, or Socially ENabled Services. It takes the ambient awareness we experience through services like Twitter and Foursquare to the next level with the use of mobile sensors.

The technology, intended for cell phone use, fuses together sensors to detect what a person is doing in the physical world, what the environment around them is doing, and what is happening on their mobile device.

But instead of asking users to check in or post updates, SENS automatically detects--and depicts--if a friend is playing a video game, listening to music, or text messaging on their phone.

Privacy is a concern, as it has already been with Facebook. We doubt that Intel's current use case, SENS as social media, will be immediately successful on a mainstream level. That being said, there could be other applications, including healthcare and social research. Passive behavioral monitoring is something to watch out for.

[via fastcompany]

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created a smartphone-based eye exam system for people in developing countries. For just $1, the plastic lens attachment will provide a service that was once unaffordable.

To use NETRA, a patient simply peers into a small lens attached to a smartphone, loaded with the testing app. On screen, they seen parallel red and green lines; then, they use arrow keys on the phone to adjust those lines until they overlap. After just two minutes of testing, the app spits out an eyeglass prescription.

Mobile technology is an enabler for many. Like IDEO's Robert Suarez told us before, "people in emerging markets rely on their mobile phones to rise above the often-dysfunctional infrastructure of the place where they live."

[via fastcompany]

Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the U.S., has just rolled out a notable update to its mobile offering. On top of a relaunched iPhone app, mobile website, and SMS coupons, the company is offering a new service called Prescription Text Alerts.

Walgreens’ Prescription Text Alerts let customers know when medications are ready for pickup or if there are any status changes to the prescription. Customers can sign up for them at the pharmacy or online. The texts can also be sent in Spanish.

The launch of Walgreen’s Prescription Text Alerts is an important event for mobile health — with more than 7,500 retail locations across all 50 states in the US, the opportunity for people to receive text alerts about prescription statuses is now nationwide.

SMS alerts are simple, but hold huge potential. Lifeguards use text alerts to keep track of sharks; at the Boston Marathon, onlookers were constantly updated with runner whereabouts. SMS alerts can act as a reminder to change the smoke detector batteries or to take your pills. A simple line of text provides timely information that can save lives or form new habits and behaviors.

[via mobihealthnews]

MobileBehavior TV attended NYU's ITP Spring Show 2010 to check out the program's innovative student work. Previously, we covered projects that focus on social viewing and interactive media behavior as well as children’s art. In this last segment, we discuss projects centered around tracking and visualizing data.

Chris Anthony, MyHealth Tracker

This is an application that allows patients to track their pain level and associated symptoms over time. It includes Google Voice and email to allow speech to text functionality. MyHealth Tracker also has a physician backend that assists patients in tracking their health.

Mustafa Bagdatli, Poker Face

Poker Face utilizes sensors to track changes in a user's mood. It uses fabric sensors and a heart rate sensor, displaying the data on a wearable device and a Flash application.

Robert Carlsen, MobileLogger

This iPhone application allows cyclists to collect data about riding their bikes. It maps data on rider density, time of day, speed, and distance. The goal is also to create a sense of connection among cyclists in New York City.

See Part 1 of our ITP Spring Show coverage here:
MobileBehavior TV: ITP Spring Show 2010 - Part 1

See Part 2 of our ITP Spring Show coverage here:
MobileBehavior TV: ITP Spring Show 2010 - Part 2

See our coverage of previous ITP shows here:
MobileBehavior TV at ITP's Spring 2009 Show - Part 1
MobileBehavior TV at ITP's Spring 2009 Show - Part 2
Inspiration from ITP's 2009 Winter Show
ITP Winter Show 2008

MobileBehavior TV is a running video series where we meet and interview thought leaders and creators in the mobile community. Click here to view past episodes and here to subscribe on iTunes.

A new Android application is in development that can track when an elderly person falls and is not able to get back up. Researchers at Florida State University see this tool, which they are calling iFall, as a more affordable way to manage patient care, specifically for those who suffer from age-related illnesses such as dementia, osteoporosis, and depression.

These apps can learn specific patterns and be customized for the individual user. If they detect an emergency (i.e. user wanders outside of the house, falls, or becomes depressed), then the phone can automatically call for help.

iFall uses the phone's built-in accelerometer to detect when a person falls. iWander, a similar application, uses GPS location data to report when a patient with dementia moves outside an acceptable range. This is just one of many mobile health applications that let physicians monitor from afar, lessening the need for additional hardware.

[via mobilecrunch]

Blue Flow is a mobile concept for individuals with asthma. The device would work with an everyday iPhone to help users monitor their airways.

Information is wirelessly transmitted to the phone for your doctor to monitor. The information gathered can be used to determine the best course of action since the condition is finicky and changes based on a number of health and environmental variables.

Always available mobile devices are now powerful enough to accept sensor input as well as analyze the data provided. Products like the iBAC (blood alcohol level tracker) use additional hardware to collect information that a sole mobile phone cannot. Consistent use of these systems can provide insights as is seen in geo-medicine. Mobile health applications are changing the game, smart band-aids and telemedicine let physicians observe patients' vital signs remotely and on  the go. There is less need for the traditional hospital room as old-style assemblies of patients around specialized medical facilities become less necessary.

[via yankodesign]

In 2006, writer and futurist Jamais Cascio imagined a world where everyday citizens would have a voice and play a role in change. He described it as a participatory panopticon. With connected camera phones, humans could become part of an "earth witness project," reporting on what's happening to the planet. UCLA's Deborah Estrin is working on exactly that.

Urban Sensing is a CENS program that taps everyday mobile technology to solve some of the world's larger problems. Also referred to as participatory sensing,  the program designs systems that enable users with tools that record environmental data. Through mobile crowdsourcing, humans are sensors, reporting back with their discoveries in order to make better decisions and help organizations steer the world in the right direction.

Urban Sensing has been involved in several projects. Networked Naturalist is an example of citizen science; Project BudBurst, What's Invasive!, and HABWatch all monitor the environment through different eyes. Other projects are geared more towards developing smarter cities through observing walkability, traffic, and even neighborhood identity. All of these make use of mobile apps, and on-board sensors such as GPS, the accelerometer, and camera.

While these applications are geared towards the environment, the concept can be applied elsewhere. Participatory sensing is a method for gathering data about the world. Personal analytics does this on the individual level. When we take the collective information gathered by personal analytic applications like Nike+, Mint, or Fitbit, users are engaging in participatory sensing. It would essentially reveal the big picture, letting us collect samples of an entire society. This could be powerful for those in healthcare; developments in geo-medicine and the insights provided by Google Flu Trends reflect this.