design / research
serial consign
data-driven parenting
Last week, Kevin Kelly wrote about a web service right on point with some of the recent projects examined here on Serial Consign. Trixie Tracker is a parental database and scheduling application developed by interface designer Ben MacNeill. The service is designed for parents to track the daily rhythms of their infant(s) and over time, build up a body of data pertaining to sleep schedules, diaper changes, breast feeding, milk inventory and diet development. The goal of collecting this information is to provide analytics to make for more efficient parenting (i.e. realizing and capitalizing on the fact that junior is very susceptible to 3 PM naps). Trixie Tracker is a commercial application based off the research, tracking and visualization that MacNeill has been engaged in since the birth of his daughter Trixie four years ago.
The above image is a Sleep Probability Chart which tracks the sleeping patterns of an infant over the course of a day at a resolution of 10 minutes. From top to bottom, the diagrams track the sleep habits of a newborn, a 6 month and year old infant. MacNeill describes the logic of the visualization as follows:
The Sleep Probability chart uses a gray scale to display the probability of your child being asleep at a certain time of day for the selected dates. Areas of high contrast (black and white) mean your child is on a predictable schedule. Areas of low contrast (light, middle and dark gray) mean a less regular schedule. A uniformly gray chart would mean a completely random sleep schedule.
Armed with crystal clear visualizations, which are in turn based on months of observations, parents would most certainly have the means to "optimize" their caregiving. In Kevin Kelly's post on the matter, he identified Trixie Tracker as just one example of a growing movement called Data-Driven Parenting. Dr. Spock please step aside and make way for Mr. Tufte!
[trixie tracker / sleep telemetry chart]
I recommend poking around on the Trixie Tracker site as it is a strange and wonderful experience to see web 2.0 aesthetics applied to parenting. One of MacNeill's most interesting pre-Trixie Tracker projects was his animated feeding chart based off data culled in 2003. MacNeill also took part in a 2006 interview on parentdish in which he contextualizes his views on data and parenting.
vital statistics
Really fascinating. I imagine it would be a useful tool to get some clarity in the sleep-deprived baby daze. The cultural critic in me would be all, "you're just using a set of normative bodily constructions (sleep, eat, excrete) to help 'manage' your child into a socially sanctioned individual." The parent in me would probably just use it. Interestingly you could use an open-ended platform (something like John Tonkin's Strange Weather) to record the same data, and whatever else too. What are the truly vital statistics? Fluid balance, vocabulary, hours of tv, number of tantrums? In this light I imagine the photos and video of my kids as richer, more sporadic, transversal datasets.
data entry
Ha! I guess databases of youtube and flickr content are the qualitative counterpoint to this kind of number crunching.
I find it hard to imagine that a new parent would have the energy or drive to sit down and tally up the "inventory" for the day and plug it all in. That said, I could see there being potential for some great "intelligence" with which to streamline parenting. Perhaps we could start tracking parental sleeping patterns and cross reference with the tots? :)
I agree with Kevin Kelly's suggestion that this kind of "parental aggregator" could be really interesting when some of this data tracking could be automated (i.e. ingoing and outgoing baby formula swiped w/ a barcode scanner). Most of all, I'm impressed with MacNeill's dedication to this project. I wonder at what age a child starts to feel a bit oppressed by all the tracking. Is there a suggested end age for Trixie Tracker?
I dropped Ben a line so maybe he'll chime in with some more information about the scope of the project.
Thanks!
Hi Greg,
Thanks for the thoughtful write-up. You correctly keyed in on the fact that Trixie Tracker is as much a design and visualization project as it is a parenting tool.
You're also right about the perceived barrier-to-entry regarding the time spent tracking, but it really depends on how connected the household. When I was tracking Trixie, I kept her page open in a browser tab and just clicked "Add diaper" on the way to the garbage. Similarly, when she was napping I was usually catching up on a few things online, so recording a nap didn't take me out of the flow. With multi-computer households, mobile devices and wifi, the barrier will continue to drop. Of course, automated data entry would be ideal, but that's a completely different ball game.
The suggested cut-off age depends on the activity being tracked. I stopped recording Trixie's diapers as she transitioned to potty training (about 18 months), but I kept tracking sleep until she was a little over two because it was still helpful in understanding her nap transitions and bedtime. (Plus the full sleep chart was just so cool!)
Thanks again!
Best,
Ben
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Ben MacNeill
Founder, Trixie Telemetry LLC