From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: John Hendy Subject: Org-mode as a Quantified Self platform Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:03:03 -0500 Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:56601) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SOuwH-0002an-Fu for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:03:11 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SOuwF-0004Bm-54 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:03:08 -0400 Received: from mail-bk0-f41.google.com ([209.85.214.41]:42012) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SOuwE-0004Ai-RH for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:03:07 -0400 Received: by bkwj4 with SMTP id j4so2575969bkw.0 for ; Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:03:04 -0700 (PDT) List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode I've really been getting into the Quantified Self movement recently, and by "getting into," I mean reading and watching videos and /thinking/ about things I'd like to track about myself. [1] I've been pondering what kind of "platform" to use for my data collection... Excel? Some time tracking application? Those were after-thoughts. I thought of Org-mode right away and it seemed like an obvious choice. Why? 1) I have access to it at home and work pretty easily 2) The ability to quickly insert time stamps/clock data 3) The habit family of features -- set up some initial goals (recurring todo headlines) and then just got to the headline and mark done (possibly with a note) to record the event. 4) Exportability (though I have some questions on this one) 5) I recently got an Android tablet and have mobile-org on it now, which I'm hoping will allow me to have even better access to data entering. 6) Should some application "go under," I'll still always have my data in plain text. On to my questions: -- Has anyone done something like this? I see it as very similar to habit tracking. To give an example, I've had a bit of a persistent cough. I developed it when I was sick at one point, went on antibiotics, and got better... but the cough kind of stuck around but is on and off. Now I'm wondering if it's coffee/dehydration related so I'd like to create headlines for Coffee, glass of water, and cough. Then I can just mark them done whenever I finish a cup of coffee, drink a glass of water, or cough. At some point I'd like to plot them to visualize any potential relationships. -- On that note, what's the best way to get data out of org-habit/headlines and into something a bit more usable like csv? I'm looking for something more than just looking through headlines for missed days. I'm going to need full access to the time stamps in a usable format (say, R) and everything agglomerated into one single data file. -- I see I can insert [inactive] timestamps in mobile-org. Making something a TODO seems to require manual input? I find the documentation fairly lacking with respect to simple basic terminology (Outline view vs. Document view?) and have not used it much. Any suggestions on using this in conjunction with the above would be great. I think org-mode could make a very spectacular data tracker due to its time stamp and clocking abilities along with what feels natural with respect to adding in narrative text/notes and being able to structure things how I'd like. In addition, I'll have git ability to sync with my home computer. Thoughts? Thanks for any input! [1] For those unfamiliar: http://quantifiedself.com/ John