C. attention-slice status-updates

Ways to obtain real-time data on the layer-focus in a given community have been under discussion for some time. In particular we've been thinking about real-time self-reporting in human communities. 

Appropo in this context are two earlier contest videos exploring this theme: 

• this one for a 2008 Google 10^100 contest, and 

• this one by M. E. Ordway for the May 2010 Scientific American world-changing ideas contest.

A credits screen for the May 2010 video is here. Instrumental soundtrack is the cc-licensed Maybe by DoKashiteru. 

Research Question: The extent to which metazoans manage to multitask by caring for self, reaching out to peers, caring for family, reaching out to workgroup, caring for culture, and reaching out to shared knowledge is a robust measure of community health. In human communities this task-layer multiplicity shows promise as an integrative framework for going beyond gross domestic product & body count toward tracking the impact of policy changes & disasters on a healthy middle-class. How might modern technologies facilitate use of experience sampling as a way to objectively monitor this aspect of community health? 

Figure 1 (below): Sample speed-dial labels for task layer-multiplicity attention-slice status-update experience-sampling:

Results Summary: Mobile devices show potential as reliable platforms for attention-slice monitoring via individual self-reporting, in a way that allows for secure storage, sharing, and analysis of statistical data for individuals and communities they choose to share with. For instance, simply selecting to push one of 6 buttons on request (signaling which layer are you focusing on now) might be all that is asked of participants. Responsible implementation could help strengthen the positive impact of information technology on the health of many types of communities, with much less risk to privacy e.g. than regular status-updates on Facebook. Two issues, namely (a) application design/programming and (b) getting the word out on how and why to participate, are still not yet off the ground. 

References

• Joel M. Hektner, Jennifer A. Schmidt, and M. Csikszentmihalyi (2007) Experience Sampling Method: Measuring the Quality of Everyday Life (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishing) google.