Interesting project, how can I help?

[cggaurav]

No description provided.

[giacecco]

Hi cggaurav, do you own a Fitbit or similar, or you're a 'Moves' user? You may start from writing the equivalent of upcl.js for it.

[cggaurav]

Yes a Force. I'll get you started with that in a week or so. Can you update README with a format that is interoperable with Jawbone and Fitbit to start out with? Further, I see this project as an API for the other fitness
tracking APIs (read API for APIs)

[giacecco]

Very good, I will write something but I'll give you a gist of it here. There are two levels of data extraction that we need to achieve.

The higher level is the one that is device-agnostic: whatever the user owns, UP, Force etc., the data is represented in a commonly shared format that empowers comparison between users (e.g. for gamification in team of friends) or data analysis on populations of users (e.g. to anonymise and donate to medical research). One device could capture more information than others, in that case the data format should allow for the extra information to be stored without compromising data consolidation with less articulated devices.

The lower level is not device-agnostic: it is just about extracting the data as it is, actually with as little change as possible. This is needed to guarantee that any later change of mind, bug, revision in how we interpret the original format (that could be not that well documented) will allow us to go back to the raw data and re-interpret it at the 'higher level' described above... or even with other data-crunching tools, such as the R programming language. Consider also that we can't expect all makers to be diligent in documenting the data formats. Jawbone isn't.

One more advantage of the lower level is that today most device makers abuse of the ownership of the data, and it is not easy at all for users to get a copy of their own. In case of Fitbit for example I believe users have the right only to download consolidated versions of the data being captured, and need to pay ~ £40/year (in the UK) to access the full thing. I expect this privilege the makers have to become illegal some time in the next future, but in the meantime I would like we found a way for the user to have a copy of their data.

[cggaurav]

Right, the issue with Fitbit is that there is no way to download data unless the user authenticates and this can't be done via the command line alone, so just a CLT will not work. Building a webservice for Jawbone + Fitbit Connect + getting necessary data is a great start, even in the context of research that you are mentioning.