Is it time we stopped indulging the quantified selves to focus on the bigger prize of improving the health of nations? Behaviour change expert Stuart Bowden highlights how to use passive data from open sources to guide health decisions. He will illustrate how this data can be used to actively move people who are disengaged with their health to make and sustain positive change. In 20 years’ experience, Bowden has worked with and consulted for numerous government bodies and private sector businesses using geographical search, emotional and social response data to trigger people into action. In the session, he will discuss how the scale of this opportunity far outweighs the quantified self.

1. FROM INDULGING THE
QUANTIFIED SELVES TO
IMPROVING THE LIVES OF
THE FITBIT-FREE MASSES
Using data as a force for good
Stuart Bowden
Behaviour change expert
CEO MEC

2. • Founding member of the Institute of Practitioners in
Advertising’s (IPA) Behavioural Economics Task Force
• A decade of consulting and working on government projects
including the Department of Health, Electoral Commission,
Transport for London andThe British Armed Forces
STUART BOWDEN, BEHAVIOUR CHANGE EXPERT
• Champion for behavioural economics in practice and has
spoken atThe Cabinet Office and Whitehall.
• CEO of MEC, voted the UK’s media agency of the decade
(2010).

3. It is time to move away from indulging the quantified
selves to use passive data to transform the health of
the fitbit-free masses.
What is the scale of the opportunity that passive data provides to
improve the health of the masses?
Which data owners do governments need to engage in order to reap the
benefits of mass passive data-mining?
At what point does using data to improve people’s health turn a nation
into a big brother state?

4. Helping the disengaged masses
Data gathered from wearable tech users is only a small part of the whole
story – what about the vast majority of people who can’t afford
wearables or simply aren’t engaging with them?
Decisions are being made based on people who have the least need but
are the most visible because they are tech enabled and engaging.
How can we use open, passive data to actively move those who are
disengaged to make and sustain positive changes to their health?

5. MERGING GOOGLE SEARCH AND
UK GOVERNMENT DATA TO MAP THE
PREVALANCE OF UNHEALTHY BEHAVIOURS
AND THE APPETITE TO CHANGE

7. WORKING WITH UCL* TO MINE THE
SENTIMENT AND EMOTIONS OF
SOCIAL DATA THROUGHOUT THE
SMOKING QUIT JOURNEY
* University College London

8. PASSIVE DATA UNVEILS THE EMOTIONS EXPERIENCED THROUGHOUT THE QUITTING JOURNEY…

9. Symptom Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 post
Craving 1139 247 195 81 25 32
Stress 549 105 61 33 10 17
Constipation 416 125 61 69 22 50
Annoy 300 33 14 22 3 8
Anxious 253 89 25 31 7 11
Hungry 177 40 15 19 5 5
Sick 158 44 17 18 5 4
Depress 128 20 22 9 5 15
Headache 36 7 3 5 5 0
Concern 17 6 3 2 0 0
Diarrhoea 12 3 0 0 0 0
…AND DETERMINES EXACTLY THE SYMPTOMS WHICH CREATE THESE EMOTIONS

10. MESSAGES CAN TARGET QUITTERS ACCURATELY BASED ON THEIR EMOTIONS AND SENTIMENT EXPRESSED
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Emotional/sentiment analysis during Stoptober with University College London

11. CREATING REAL TIME RESPONSE
IN SOCIAL SPACES TO ANSWER
HEALTH QUERIES INSTANTLY

12. REAL TIME RESPONSE TO HEALTH ENQUIRIES ON SOCIAL SPACES IS WELCOMED BY THE VAST MAJORITY
A total of 137Twitter
responses attracted a
direct response from the
recipient
Positive feedback far outweighed negative comments
Negative
6%
Positive
94%

13. WE NEEDTO BE MORE FRONT-
FOOTED INTHEWAYWE USE
DATATO DRIVE POSITIVE
OUTCOMES FORTHOSEWHO
AREN’T ENGAGING.