1. Using Smartphones to Research Daily Life
Dr. Neal Lathia
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
neal.lathia@cl.cam.ac.uk

2. “First were mainframes, each shared by
lots of people. Now we are in the
personal computing era, person and
machine staring uneasily at each other
across the desktop. Next comes
ubiquitous computing [...] when
technology recedes into the background
of our lives.”
- Weiser

3. Android: 1.5 million
daily activations

4. Phone Calls
Text Messages
Social Media
E-mail
Camera
Calendars
Maps
Transport
Games
News
Videos

5. Phone Calls
Text Messages
Social Media
E-mail
Camera
Calendars
Maps
Transport
Games
News
Music
Videos
Communication
Patterns;
Social Networks and
Sharing; Information
Diffusion;
Points of Interest;
Mobility; App Usage
...

7. Accelerometer
Microphone
Camera
GPS
Compass
Gyroscope
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Proximity
NFC
Light

8. Accelerometer
Microphone
Camera
GPS
Compass
Gyroscope
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Proximity
NFC
Light
Activities;
Transportation
Modes; Co-location;
Mobility; Speaker
Detection; Speech
Inferences; Context
Identification

9. How can we sense, identify, and
capture high-level behaviours (e.g.,
walking, running) from low-level
sensors (e.g., accelerometer)?
“Classic” Research Question (1):
For ever higher level behaviours
Given energy, computation constraints

10. How can we verify or understand
qualitative aspects of behaviour that
can be sensed (i.e., the why)?
“Classic” Research Question (2):
Choices, feelings, reasons, semantics (e.g., home vs.
lat/lon).

11. Experience Sampling

12. Experience
Sampling
Mood; Location
Semantics
Focus/Engagement;
Transportation
Choices; Physical
Activity; Health;
Reactions to Music

13. Researching Daily Life:
Reflecting on the 'scientific' method

14. Hypothesis
Measure
Test
Tradition...

15. Hypothesis
Measure
Test
ESM Design
Sensor-ESM studies...
Sensor-Sampling Design

16. Hypothesis
Measure
Test
ESM Design
Ready for the public...
Sensor-Sampling Design
User Experience
Design
Build App
Test App
Deploy App
Market App
Debug App
Update App
Re-design UX
User Support
De-noise data

18. Emotion Sense Basics:
(a) Complete a “long”
survey about how you feel
& your current context
(b) Receive notifications
that ask you to complete a
“short” survey
(c) View how your survey
responses compare to the
sensor data your phone has
collected.

19. Emotion Sense Surveys
(momentary)
Positive/Negative Affect
Day “Goodness”
Current Location
Texting/Calling Habits
Current Activity
Device Interaction
Recent Speech
Personality
Sociability
Connectedness
Engagement
(non-momentary)
Demographics
Satisfaction with Life
Personality
Gratitude
Health
Sociability
Job Satisfaction
Life Aspirations
Connectedness

21. Emotion Sense Sensors
Location
Texting Logs
Call Logs
Accelerometer
Microphone
Screen On/Off Samples
Wi-Fi
Battery Levels

22. ● How can we keep users engaged in a
seemingly repetitive task?
● Surveys are “too long” … “too obtrusive” .. “too
repetitive”
● ESM experiments “don't beneft me” … “too
boring”
Design Challenges

23. A “Non”-Game designed like a game

24. How many questions to ask...?
When the user is
“volunteering” a
response (10)
vs.
When the user is
responding to a
notification (3)

25. Limited feedback – avoiding judging

26. How are people interacting?
– 12,000 interacting users;
– 650,000+ survey responses
– ~6% answer only 1 survey
– ~800 daily user responses
– Average of 60+ days
responding to surveys per
user
– ~15% users > 3 months
– App demographics ~
published Android user
demographics

28. angry anxious lonely
relaxedenthusiasticcalm

31. Emotion Sense: Ongoing Work
– Making sense of noisy sensor data: various
devices, time zones, participation lengths
– Analysing quality, content of survey responses
– Investigating the future of these tools:
generalising (for researchers) vs. specialising (for
a particular context).

32. Easy M:
Can I run a study like
Emotion Sense?
(Without going back to the drawing board)
Generalised sensor-
enhanced experience
sampling tool.

33. Easy M Basics:
(a) Enter a “participant
code” to join an experiment;
app reconfigures itself (with
timeout)
(b) Receive notifications
that ask you to complete
your researchers' survey
(c) Volunteer additional
responses

34. Easy M Basics:
Allows for both
“momentary” and
“volunteered” survey types.
Questions include all the
same types as Emotion
Sense.
User feedback is limited to
response time and
compliance.

35. Where could Easy M be
used?

36. Using Smartphones to Research Daily Life
Dr. Neal Lathia
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
neal.lathia@cl.cam.ac.uk
http://emotionsense.org/
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nkl25/easym/