The Quantified Self, Big Data, and Medicine

VentureBeat recently ran a piece hailing the Quantified Self as one of the big trends of 2012. Based on self tracking, the Quantified Self movement might be characterized as "better living through self measuring" rather than the DuPont slogan "better living through chemistry."

One prominent device that exemplified this self-information-gathering trend is the Fitbit pedometer. The device not only keeps track of the number of steps a person walks but it can also estimate distance walked, calories burned, and even how well one sleeps.

Countless other examples abound: There is the iPhone ECG and non-medical device examples such as the Withings Wifi Bodyscale, and the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach. And there are numerous apps for mobile phones that are contributing to this trend as well, which, as you might guess, is leading to an explosion of data.

The above image was drawn from an IBM infographic on Watson.

As a recent article in the Wall Street Journal explained, the field of medicine is undergoing a similar transition. That paper quotes Shamus Husheer, CEO of Cambridge Temperature Concepts saying that traditional medical information "is massively skewed. It is highly biased by the people who go to doctors; the ill, the hypochondriacs and the elderly."    

But that's beginning to change as the power behind Big Data becomes clear. The logic of all behind this is obvious: more data is more useful, and less biased, than less data. But, as the Wall Street Journal article points out:

Acquiring medical data has, historically, been problematic. It is wrapped in layers of regulations and stringent safeguards and is expensive to collect.

Husheer's company, Cambridge Temperature Concepts, is doing its part to reverse the trend and help produce data that can be useful for female patients facing infertility problems. The company has created the DuoFertility sensor that is worn 24 hours a day that measures movement and changes in body temperature to pinpoint medical problems that might interfere with ovulation. 

—Brian Buntz