I’ve been making decent progress on my software, and while it’s no good yet for any kind of data analysis, it can already be used to do a number of things related to the management of datasets and collaborations. I may even unleash the current incarnation upon some unsuspecting human beings soon, but for now, I’m using myself as my first guinea pig, so I’ve started wearing one of the Fitbits I bought myself (or rather, for my project) for Christmas. From the perspective of my research, the reason for this is that I need to capture some sample data so I can get a look at what the data looks like when it’s exported from the Fitbit cloud into a file, but I’m also personally interested in seeing firsthand what’s happened in fitness trackers since the last time I wore one, which was quite a few years ago and then also for research purposes.

Back then I wasn’t hugely impressed, but it seems that by now these gadgets have advanced enough in terms of both functionality and appearance that I would consider buying one of my own. My initial impression of the Fitbit was that it’s quite sleek but not very comfortable; no matter how I wore it, it always felt either too loose or too tight. However, it seems that I either found the sweet spot or simply grew accustomed to it because it doesn’t bother me that much anymore, although most of the time I am still aware that it’s there. I’m probably not wearing it exactly as recommended by the user manual, but I can’t be bothered to be finicky about it.

By tapping on the screen of the device I can scroll through my basic stats: steps, heart rate, distance, energy expenditure and active minutes. More information is available by launching the Fitbit app; this is where I see, for example, how much sleep the device thinks I’ve had. Here I could also log my weight and what I’ve eaten if I were so inclined. Setting up the device and the app so that they can talk to each other takes a bit of time, but after that the device syncs to the app without any problems, at least on Windows. However, for some reason the app refused to acknowledge that I’m wearing the Fitbit on my right wrist rather than my left; this setting I had to make on the website to make it stick. The website is also where I export my data, which is quick and straightforward to do, with a choice between CSV or Excel for the data format.

The accuracy of the data is not really my number one concern, since I’m interested in the process of collaborative data analysis rather than the results of the analysis. However, on a personal note again, it is interesting to make observations on how the feedback I get from the device and the app relates to how I experience those aspects of my life that the feedback is about. For example, I can’t quite escape the impression that the Fitbit is flattering me, considering how consistently I’ve been getting my daily hour or more of activity even though in my own opinion I certainly don’t exercise every day. On the other hand, I do get a fair bit of walking done on a normal working day, including a brisk afternoon walk in the park next to the university campus whenever I can spare the time, so I guess it all adds up to something over the course of the day.

Based on my fairly brief experience, I can already see a few reasons for the rising popularity of wearables such as the Fitbit. Even if the accuracy of the data in terms of absolute values leaves something to hope for, presumably the device is at least reasonably consistent with itself over time, so if there are any rising or falling trends in your performance, they should be visible in the data. To make the product more friendly and fun to use, the developers have used a host of persuasion and gamification techniques; for example, there are various badges to be earned, with quirky names like “Penguin March”, and occasionally the device gets chatty with me, offering suggestions such as “take me for a walk?”. When I reach the daily magic number of ten thousand steps, the Fitbit vibrates a little silent congratulatory fanfare on my wrist.

In terms of what I need to carry out my project, the Fitbit will definitely serve: setting it up, syncing it and exporting the data all seem to work without any big hassle. As for whether I’m going to get one for myself, I would say that it’s now more likely than before that I will get some kind of wearable – not necessarily a Fitbit, but one that will give me the same kind of information anyway. Having this opportunity to try out a few different ones is an unexpected perk of the project that I now suddenly welcome, even though I wasn’t particularly interested in these devices when I was applying for the grant.