LIAM: A Two Decade Exploration of Lifelogging

Abstract

The idea of lifelogging [1] has recently been gaining public interest and it's noted that there has been over a decade of research activity in the area [2]. In this talk, I will describe LIAM (Lifestyle-Integrated Automation Machine) which represents a first attempt at a holistic lifelogging solution that supports gathering lifelog data, accessing this data and (uniquely) using this data to report and automate aspects of my life. LIAM represents lifelogging journey that has recorded 7100 days. LIAM may be described as a "Life Management System" or a pervasive technology system to record, report, assess, and control aspects of my life. Logically, LIAM may be viewed across three dimensions: LifeChronicle: LifeChronicle represents a record of the past (my lifelog). It contains over a dozen categories from physical activities to completed tasks to life events. Over time, this data has become more and more extensive. LifeState: LifeState is a description of my life's current state compartmentalized into nine essential "elements" which I propose create a "whole person". LIAM summarizes and computes these states with data from LifeChronicle near real-time. It also compares LifeState constituents against targets and using a weighted scorecard creates a LifeScore. This abstracts my life as a single number. LifeConsole: LifeConsole is the collection of tools and processes I use to drive LifeChronicle and LifeState -- or to be driven by them. This goes beyond desktop and mobile tools but includes extensive home automation as well.