Cyclist Sensors
A team of researchers from Columbia University are working with citizen scientist cyclists on a study that’s looking to show the potential health risks of cycling in an urban environment. Participating citizens in the study are asked to wear: air pollution monitors, a special shirt that monitors your heart rate, and an automatic blood pressure cuff for five 24 hour periods centered around 5 morning bike commutes. In return, citizens have the knowledge that their gathered data will be used later by the researchers in the development of an app that will make recommendations for healthier bike trips in NYC and other cities.
Currently, cyclists are interacting with the researchers themselves at the beginning and the end, and interacting with the gear that they have to wear throughout their bike ride in between. These short-time one-sided interactions lead to data being gathered on the researchers side, but doesn’t currently enable citizens to enact on any new behaviors or lifestyles. Researchers are using the gathered data to measure air pollution levels throughout the rides, and compare it to the biometric data of the person. Some of the measured elements include: heart rate, respiration rate, average concentration of the types of particles that are flowing through, and black carbon pm.
Not particularly being empowered by a new sensor, the study instead relies on the use of a new perspective on a situation, exerted through pre-existing sensors. To measure it’s success one would have to (1) measure how much impact the study has on urban planning in the future (2) look into the development of the app itself and see how useful it becomes for bikers, and (3) look into the charting of the data itself and see if it becomes a particularly chartable situation like traffic, or if it ends up varying too much.
Some possible options for scaling the study are: (1) offering a device to citizen bikers so they can see all of the feedback from their multiple sensors as they bike, (2) expanding the study to cover all of NYC (the 5 boroughs), and then ones it is successful there, implementing it into other cities, (3) integrating the sensor with other forms of physical activity like: running or walking and connecting this data to already existing sport watches, lastly (4) integrating this data with google maps, instead of providing a separate map app to users, this way you avoid the problem of “having too many apps”, while integrating the data into users everyday life, similar to the way we visualize traffic info.
Another critical aspect that characterizes this case, is the fact that pollution varies by location — it is not static or evenly distributed. As we move through a city, exposure differs depending on the setting. Therefore the movability of pollution is actually an existing pressure for the project, along with the continuous worsening of climate change and public health risks. In turn the project seeks to put pressure on public health policy, infrastructure design and personal behavior.
In conclusion, citizens are engaging in this project, for the sake of just being able to participate in the greater good and provide helpful info that could potentially impact public health policy and infrastructure design, but because data isn’t being provided back to them in a useful and friendly way, there isn’t an actual effect happening on their decision making.
spectrometer: BOTTOM UP
SOURCES:
nextcity.org/daily/entry/city-biking-breathe-air-pollution-sensors-wear-measure
news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/bicycles-air-pollution-health-new-york-city-columbia-university/
columbia.edu/cu/bike/
scistarter.com/project/1220-NYC%20cyclists%3A%20what%20are%20you%20breathing%3F?tab=project
