List date(s) this work was published or aired.
10-Jun-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Invasion of the Body Hackers traces a group of powerful Silicon Valley technology executives and engineers as they attempt to introduce computer programs and electronic devices they originally built to monitor and improve their own health into the mainstream consumer market. What began as a niche hobby of the ultra geeky is now being recognized by doctors for its potential to improve health, by insurance companies for its potential to reduce healthcare costs, and by venture capitalists for its potential to tap into the $61bn market for diet aids in the US. Privacy advocates have also noted the dangers of storing such exhaustive, detailed health information in mobile phones and databases: from advertisers buying data to deliver pharmaceutical ads to consumers on their home computers to people facing employment or insurance discrimination based on logs of daily meals, exercise, or moods. Through the stories of tech entrepreneurs and health experts, the piece explains this “self-tracking” health technology and how it works, while exploring the corporate uses, consumer benefits, and downfalls.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
I read numerous studies on biofeedback and biomonitoring, sleep, and nutrition. I also studied various collections of health data gathered by self-trackers to understand the magnitude of the task they undertook and the correlations they drew from it.
Explain types of human sources used.
I interviewed scores of people over the course of the five months I spent reporting this story, including: health professionals, medical researchers; entrepreneurs, engineers, inventors; venture capitalists and investors; artists; and self-trackers, from Google and Facebook employees to Wall Street hedge fund managers, health gurus, and hypochondriacs.
Results:
The story was picked up and followed by several news outlets and syndicated widely on both health and technology blogs.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
There were no corrections or clarifications.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Familiarize yourself with Silicon Valley culture as much as you research the health issues. Attend Quantified Self meetings, held all over the world, and the Quantified Self conference, if the organizers plan another one for 2012.