Our first brainstorming session!

Plan For Next Week

Monday afternoon (1/25/2010): database design and setup, Django installation and setup, iPhone/Objective C reading and tutorials, start data collection

Wednesday afternoon (1/27/2010): finish tutorials, set up Objective C programming environment (XCode), design functionality of the iPhone application (wireframes, flow charts, etc)

While we will meet twice a week (Monday and Wednesday afternoons), data collection will continue throughout the semester on a daily basis.

Caplet Project Abstract

Our project enables individuals to both collect and analyze their personal data. We will design, build, and test an iPhone and web application that will allow users to collect ONE unit of personal information a day, which we are calling a "caplet." Each one of these will be a time capsule of data, capturing a particular moment in a user's life, and including at least the following dimensions: image, text, location, time, mood and weather. While the iPhone application will function as a tool for our users to enter their content, the accompanying web application will provide them with a means of browsing and visualizing it. The fact that users can only post one caplet a day will cause them to think more carefully about what they choose to record, and will therefore make that information more meaningful.

While various web services already exist to facilitate data collection and analysis, few attempt to achieve both simultaneously, and few take full advantage of a mobile platform. In addition, most of these services allow users to post an unlimited amount of information each day, cluttering the Web with lower-quality content and making it increasingly difficult to filter out relevant information from noise. Our project does not attempt to completely resolve this problem, but rather presents an alternative to content creation for the Web and a more effective approach to structuring information.