Fred Trotter

Just so my RSS feed readers know, I will now be blogging at Programmable Self and at O’Reilly Radar.

I hope this helps everyone to keep track of what is going on.

-FT

Hi,

I have an interview up at O’Reilly Radar, talking about programmable self.

I am also quoted in a Forbes article about Google Health.  Busy week.

-FT

I have been on a quest to be a able to spray-paint QR codes, in mass production.  I recently demoed my QR code stencil work at Maker Faire.

The secret, in short, is chicken wire and caulk.

I tried the following methods unsuccessfully:

• cardboard cutouts (subject to the island problem)
• suspending wires across a board and using duct tape (suspending wires takes too long, duct tape moves when covered in spray paint)
• using very large chicken wire and using foam blocks to plug the wholes. (far far far to time consuming, but theoretically should work resulting in a massive QR code about 1 meter x 1 meter)
• using a very small hole circular whole punch on paper (subject to the island problem, but less so)

The first thing that I got working is using very small chicken wire, and using caulk to bridge the gaps between the parts of the wire required to block the spray. This seems to work. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.

QR code stencil using chicken wire and caulk

Pretty simple see! Now, once you have created that stencil, you can use black spray paint to create a readable QR code on anything you -own-

Tips for creating the stencil:

• Create a printout of your QR code that is exactly the same size of the QR code (I did not think of this. Karen Herzog figured out after two seconds of thinking about it)
• Print the QR code on really thin, flimsy paper if you can.
• Lay the QR code down, and lay the chicken wire over it.
• Caulk anywhere there is white (ie. so that the black will spray through)
• Let dry overnight.
• In the morning, you will find that the paper is also caulked

Suppose you do not own the thing in question. There is still hope. To create somewhat more legal QR code graffiti, you can create a reverse stencil (i.e.  instead of putting caulk to block black spray paint, you use a negative stencil to block white spray paint). Then you can use white chalk spray paint against a dark surface. Remember that the QR code standard requires a “field of white” around the QR code, so using a reverse stencil you have to be careful to spray generously around the QR code too.

While at Maker Faire, I bought a hoodie and used this method to spray paint chalk on it. You can see the results below.. it still scans!!

A QR code sprayed on a Maker Faire hoodie

For those who prefer to watch the action first hand…

Here is a video of how the reverse chalk spray works on asphalt

Here is a video I made b/c I was losing my voice that basically shows what I was doing with QR codes at Maker Faire.

Hi,

I am here at the first ever Quantified Self Conference and I am announcing a new Open Source Game Layer project called Open Glaze.

Here are the basics of my Game Layer philosophy that are influencing my work on Open Glaze.

• This is not one monolithic system. Its a Unix software development philosophy. It is a series of tools that do one thing really really well, and you can chain them together to do interesting stuff.
• This is not intended to be a platform play. Platforms are intended to be profit sources which is why they are so popular in start-ups, but I am not convinced that this model works in this area.
• I suppose you could make a platform play out of Open Glaze if that is what interested you.
• I am substantially non-committal on the Open Glaze software sub-projects. I will probably be open sourcing almost everything (unless there is a very good reason not to) and if the projects are not popular or useful, and cannot attract other maintainers, I intended to abandon them.
• Everything here, is part of the huge experiment that I call Programmable Self experiments that do not work will be taken out back and shot.

What -is- Open Glaze? It is a series of tools:

• TokenGeo. This is a website that lets you create reverse geo tokens. Take a look at the reverse geo caching box, for a reference. The basic workflow is, create token stickers that use QR code-based URLs that  to lead you to a place using your GPS enabled smart phone, and then, once you get to that spot, open up some new spot on the Internet (open a secret URL).
• 1 to 11. (because this one… goes to eleven) is a place to create your own Quantting web forms, that log the results to Twitter in the Graffiter syntax.
• LinkedLast is a method for using your Twitter feed as a controller for the destination of a QR code.
• StatusPresent is a method for using your Twitter feed as presentation software, and to crowd source tweets for Q/A sessions. (not sure how this relates to healthcare frankly… but it was an experiment)
• WalkOrGive is a website that uses the fitbit API and the Twitter API to create “giving performance gambling”. If you meet your step goals for the week, walkorgive will tweet your success to your stream and ask your followers to make donations to your favorite charity (using a PayPal link) in your honor.
• Of course, more to come

Hi,

I am preparing for my talk at Quantified Self about my work on Programmable Self. I was asked to make a “reading list” for the people who were interested in this subject so I wanted to create that here. Please add links in my comments section for titles that I have omitted!! Requirements for inclusion are simple. Anything that applies to using technology to change your own behavior. I would also suggest that you get a kindle from Amazon. Kindle will run as software on the iphone, ipad, and android, as well as OS X and Windows. So you do not need to buy a new device if you do not want to, but buying the kindle edition of the following books will probably save you more than $100.

My goal here is to have something relevant no matter what your background. If you are a behavioral economist, then there is some cool gamification stuff here. If you are all about gamification, then there is some cool behavioral economics stuff here… Please help me make this list even better with comments!! (thanks to Lesath for pointing out a broken link!!)

• Switch (kindle edition) – Change when change is hard. (must read)
• Carrots and Sticks (kindle edition)- Probably the best “motivation hacking” book out there, (must read). Also try the kindle-only $500 diet by the same author.
• The Tipping Point (kindle edition)- small changes can lead to bigger changes.
• Blink (kindle edition)- about how we make complex assessments and decisions really fast.
• Drive (kindle edition)- what motivates us.
• Sway (kindle edition)- About irrational behavior.
• Nudge (kindle edition)- changing peoples behaviors with very small pushes in the correct direction.
• Predictably Irrational (kindle edition)- We are irrational in predictable ways that we can use to our advantage.
• Upside of Irrationality (kindle edition)- More on how to use irrationality to our advantage.
• Deck of lenses and book of lenses – classics of game design.
• Gamification by Design – Great book on gamification.
• Reality is Broken (kindle edition)- gamification as a fix for problems…
• Rock Paper Scissors (kindle edition)- on game theory (as in the mathematics of strategy)
• Immunity to change (kindle edition) – your hangups are rational… at least on some level (added 6-20-11)
• Brain Bugs (kindle edition) somethings up there, just do not work.. (added 01-05-12)

While there are some “gamification” books here, most of this has to do with recent research into human motivation.

I would also take a moment to check out BJ Fogg’s work from the Persuasive Technology lab at Stanford. What I like about BJ’s work is that he seems very focused on making simple models for clear communication. BJ did a good job convincing me that most people have something different in their head when you say “behavior” or “engage” or “change”. Given that, you need a kind of simple vocabulary for talking about what behavior intervention your are discussing. So you should understand the following basic concepts.

• What are the types of behaviors that we might want to change? the Behavior Grid.
• How do you model behavior interventions? the B-mat Behavior Model.
• Top 10 mistakes in behavior change

I will add more links as time goes on. What did I miss? Leave me a comment with your favorite resources for behavior change.

-FT

I am happy to announce that I have been invited to the first ever Health Foo Camp. There is not even a web-page for this yet, but it has been previously announced on the RWJF blog

FOO stands for Friends of O’Reilly. It is an invitation event that puts some of the top geeks and thinkers in the same room. This is the first health-focused FOO camp.

This is a pretty big deal for me. The moment I first heard of Foo Camp, I realized that going to one was on my bucket list.

This was similar to the first time I realized that Regina Holliday sometimes auctions off her art. I realized that being wealthy enough to win an auction of one of her art work was my new definition of being rich… I also secretly covet one of her custom jackets.

Anyways, when something like this happens I begin to realize that maybe I am making the difference I want to with my life. It looks like people are finally taking this whole Open Source Health Software thing as seriously as I do. Its a pretty awesome feeling and after sharing a celebratory dinner with my wife, and soaking up the good news for a few days, I thought my readers might like to share in my sense of satisfaction. At least I think I have readers….

-FT

Is apparently now possible with Meal Snap.

I love QR codes.

I think the notion of simple graphical URLs is beautiful and elegant. If my wife were a graphical data object, I think she would be a 2D QR code.

Think of it, you can put links anywhere you want, in the real world!

You can put them on tshirts, coffee mugs, stickers, business cards… anything in the real world becomes a link to something in the virtual world. Awesome.

I have been playing with QR codes, with an eye towards gamification and behavior change for quite some time. I love the fact that with android and/or iphones you can rely on the GPS coordinates that webkit (the core of both browsers) will provide, makes a QR code a token that can do different things in different places. Think of the possibilities!

You could make geo-caching much much more interesting…

But how do you make durable (or intentionally not durable) QR code in a reproducible way? How do you manufacture large QR codes, that can be scanned accurately at a distance?

The first approach is simple to print the QR codes on either single sheets (A4 or US letter) and then clear paste them to some type of flat surface. You can use throw-away planks of wood from the hardware store to make durable QR code links. But what if you want to make a QR code on some permanent surface, like a wall or pavement. This basic idea can be taken pretty far, for instance you can paste the printed QR codes into ceramic tile or even bake it on, for a near permanent tag.

The simplest solution would be to use a stencil with black spray paint. QR code scanners vary greatly in their ability to pick up contrast, but the color black, and some other color, will almost always pick up. This has an advantage over gluing paper, because you can tag objects that are not entirely smooth. Moreover, with spray paint that does not damage the surface (more later) you can create images that can be placed out in public, non-destructively.

But what is the problem with a QR code stencil? In a word, islands. In order to make a stencil with, say, photo paper (which would otherwise be a great technique), you need a way to address bits that the stencil needs to block, that are not physically connected to the rest of the stencil. Its easier to show than explain. If you are spray painting black, for instance, and you want to make a stencil of the following QR code, you will have the following trouble spots:

See the issue, the two anything white, that does not connect to something else white (even by a corner) is going to be an issue. You might be able to make something clever for the places where this happens in most/all QR codes, but each QR code is going to have random “islands” that are often just one pixel big… and in different spots each time. These are the real headache. Making a traditional stencil simply will not work.

Also, making a stencil is very very slow. If you have to cut each pattern by hand.. ouch… way to much time. We need something faster too!

My first approach to solving this problem was to try and find a programmatic solution. For a given URL, there are many different ways to encode into a QR code. It might be possible to use an algorithm that detects this type of “island status” to find a QR code solution that did not happen to have any islands. You could make an application smarter by posting meaningless GET variables at the end of a URL until you found a version of the URL that would work (of course, I am focused on using URL shorteners like bit.ly to ensure that you have a simple-as-possible QR-code. The more character in the URL, and the more complex the QR code is and the harder it is to make a stencil. The shortener ensures that the QR code is manageable.

I gave up on this technique after noting that there were islands in all of my test runs for various URLs, but the idea is sound.

Commitment contracts are a way of limiting and shaping your own behavior.

If you know that your “future self” (a useful Behavioral Economics concept) is going to be weak willed, you can make a commitment that limits your future behavior to do the “right” thing.

The classic example that everyone always uses of this is of Odysseus and the Sirens. Odysseus has himself tied to the mast of the ship by his men, so that he will not be able succumb to the siren’s song.

I think commitment contracts are probably the single most important tool we have in hacking our own motivations. Currently you can make commitment contracts through stickk.com, but I have been thinking carefully about how to make commitment contracts into something that you can access in code.

I think this is going to be a central theme moving forward with the Programmable Self concept, so you can look forward to many more posts about it.

-FT

So I have decided to start blogging about “programmable self”. For that reason, I will be re-publishing the programmable self category from fredtrotter.com on programmableself.com.

Programmable self is a merger of two sets of concepts, quantified-self which is the use of technology to get accurate data about yourself, and behavioral economics/psychology which deals with motivation and behavior.

The concept is pretty simple. The same way that quantters (people who track themselves, using quantified self methods) use software to track data about themselves, you can also automate certain aspects of motivation.

This is really important, because for the most difficult life change issues, the problem is not knowledge, but motivation. Using quantified self, a motivated person can perform better. But the problem is how to become a motivated person? The really difficult things to change about ourselves come with tremendous intrinsic motivators. Overeating, anything to do with sex, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling or any combination of the above have tangible, pleasurable outcomes. Orgasms are pretty amazing experiences, and if we want to change behaviors like condom use, we need to delve deeply into changing motivations.

Before I get started blogging, I should probably acknowledge that many of the concepts that I will be discussing are either inspired by, borrowed from or criticisms of the work of several behavioral economists.

Moreover, I am not the first person to attempt to harness these ideas in software.

Stickk.com is the first major web application that enables online commitment contracts, which I believe are a fundamental tool for programmable self. Further, the book Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done , by Ian Ayers one of the founders of Stickk, is probably the best summary of the relevant work in behavioral economics that I have read. I have not yet read The $500 Diet: Weight Loss for People Who Are Committed to Change (Kindle Edition) but it probably worth reading too. I am a stickk.com user and it is effective. Most of my efforts blogging here will be centered around how to go beyond the functionality that stickk.com offers.

To start with, most of what I say here will only be consumable by quantters, programmers and hackers like myself. Eventually some of the concepts that I am dealing with here should become available to “regular” users!

-FT