Dyson, Esther. "The Quantified Community." Project Syndicate, July 23, 2012.
From the article: "I have written previously
about the Quantified Self movement – individuals equipped with the tools
(monitoring devices and software) needed to measure
their own health and behavior (and, by doing so, to improve them). This
movement is not quite sweeping the world, but it is making a difference.
So-called Quantified Selfers are monitoring their blood pressure, sleep cycles,
and body mass. At least some of them are using that information to improve
their health and live more productively.
In the same way, I predict (and am trying to foster) the emergence of a
Quantified Community movement, with communities measuring the state, health,
and activities of their people and institutions, thereby improving them. Just
consider: each town has its own schools, library, police, roads and bridges,
businesses, and, of course, people. All of them potentially generate a lot of
data, most of it uncollected and unanalyzed. That is about to change.
As with the Quantified Self, the tools for collecting and analyzing data
about everything from public health to potholes in roads, real-estate prices,
school attendance, and more are beginning to emerge. Indeed, many independent
data-analysis software tools and Web sites provide data that can be filtered
for local information and presented with useful visualizations." Read more
