Talk:Activity tracker

Development

The spreadsheet-style computer logs are not in the article only to inflate its weight; they are in the article as a historical stage in development of the concept, which is still kicking around online. The Fitbit is presented in reliable sources as having been the first automated activity tracker; I will reinstate it unless sources are added documenting that it was not in fact the first. There is assumption of bad faith in recent edit summaries concerning both of these history elements; the article does need expansion, and there may well be specialist sources presenting a more useful picture of how the gadgets were first developed, but replacement of specifics with generalizations on suspicion that there is promotion or puffery happening is not the way to do it. What preceded the Fitbit? Yngvadottir (talk) 08:38, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Having followed Yngvadottir here, I must say I don't understand exactly what the 'concept' of an Activity Tracker actually entails. It does sound a lot like a marketroid-invented term, coined to sell a particular sub-sub-sub-class of product. And I do kinda doubt that the April 2008 Presidential thingie belongs in this article... unless it specifically had something to do with ActivityTracker™-class technology? I will open a new section, for history-of-this-concept-and-related-concepts, to help us figure out what this article is specifically about. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 08:51, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I wrote this based on the sources I found. The other editor has added some earlier devices marketed to serious exercisers; the sources I found used the term first to refer to a spreadsheet app (hence the President's Council on Physical Fitness): this is obviously a descendant of paper and pencil, and how it relates to Facebook, for example, would be O.R.; and second, for the self-contained devices (and to a lesser extent the apps that use the smartphone's GPS). For these last, the Fitbit is reported as having launched the category; presumably by that is meant the general consumer category. (I also have non-RS regarding health insurers distributing them; reliable sources could be found, but I decided that was undue weight not only from a commercial point of view but becuse it relates to the role of (employment-related) insurance in healthcare and health maintenance in the US.) Based on the sources I read and used, the Fitbit has to be mentioned, and so do the non-automated but computer-based versions. Yngvadottir (talk) 09:07, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I also followed another editor here. My first impression was similar to 74's in that it sounded like a marketroid-invented term. On the other hand, it is also fairly succinct as to what it is referring to. I delayed looking to determine if the term has gained enough meme-space to be WP:NOTABLE, but it appears that it is. One of my impressions when first arriving at the page was that "Activity tracker" was a bit too generic a term for the specific use about which is currently written: "Wearable device to track personal fitness activity". I'm not suggesting that name for the page, just saying that "Activity tracker" is a bit generic for this specific use; maybe "Personal activity tracker (fitness)"??

My issues with the April 2008 President’s Challenge being prominently mentioned/referenced include

1. It is not directly related to activity trackers
2. It is used as an example of a computer log of fitness activity. As such it is decades after the first instances, and has no demonstrated relevance.
3. The reference isn't actually to the President’s Challenge, but to a press release from the office of the CT Governor joining in encouraging people to join the President's Challenge.
4. It is only in the article because it is the President's Challenge. If it was not the President's Challenge, it would not be in the article. To illustrate this: there are a huge number of online examples of fitness spreadsheets (Goggle for "fitness spreadsheet" returns 3.7M hits). None of these are included. If the President's Challenge was: go and buy an Activity tracker and link it to our website. That would be relevant. The fact that the President's Challenge in 2008 included a method of recording fitness activity using a computer is is not.

I certainly have no problem with computer spreadsheets being mentioned. In fact, I think they should be mentioned, as long as we keep a realistic historical perspective on this. As 74 has detailed, using computer spreadsheets, or other computer assisted fitness record keeping, has been around since the 1980's, if not the late '70s. It is not new. The current tech is a refinement and integration of multiple already existing solutions to this space.

The earlier devices I added were not necessarily marketed towards only serious exercisers. The range of devices I provided was, at the times mentioned, in the sub $100 to multi-hundred price range. The 2006/2007 device appears to be, and have been, in the $350 range. The bicycle computers were in the $50-$75 range in the early '90s, with more functionality/tracking? at the $150 level.

I had removed the references to Fitbit because the placement made it appear to me that there was undue weight provided to the company and their product(s). The statements implied that the company was the first in the marketplace with anything that would be considered an activity tracker, when they clearly were not. Basically, the way it was written when I got here had the existence of the term relying on that company's products when there were products already released in the marketplace (at least 2006, with fully integrated wireless reporting/tracking/planning) prior to the existence of that company (2007) let alone the introduction of their first product (2009).

I had removed the mention of Facebook from the lead because there did not appear to be any specific wearable device, nor any indication how any Facebook app was significantly separate from smartphone apps. Basically, I just did not see why it was specifically in the lead. Maybe something like "smartphone apps and integration with social media". Upon refection, the integration with social media is actually quite important. The ability to share such information in social media is probably one of the things that is driving the product space. I'm not sure if that means mentioning specifically Facebook quite so predominantly, or just social media.

BTW: '74, thanks for the timeline and the additional items there. I was going to look for some to add to it, particularly earlier ones. You and I appear to agree that there is a long history to the basic concepts involved in "Activity Trackers". --Makyen (talk) 11:45, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Makyen, I think I see. The thing is, Activity tracker is now the name for the gizmo - and for apps, including apparently Facebook apps. So regardless of the history of the gizmo (or the logs), that was the article title that was missing and that I researched and wrote. I missed the preceding gizmos because I only searched for the current term and didn't happen upon sources filling in that technological background - thanks for adding it, and I have put the Fitbit back in in that context. The President's Challenge is not in the article because it's the President's Challenge - it's there because the sources I found reported an earlier/continuing use of the term Activity tracker for a spreadsheet-type log, as opposed to a piece of technology. I would not want to give this undue weight, but it's a still existing use of the term in the sources. I believe you have the wrong end of the stick as to why I included it; however, it's undoubtedly true that the prominence of that campaign in the US has affected the sources I found. Putting the entire thing in a footnote on a statement that the term has also been used for internet-enabled spreadsheets would work too, but I'd rather instead add a non-US instance if there is one. Yngvadottir (talk) 16:15, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

related concepts, historical and current

1950s.

• Paper & pencil. Rep chart.

1960s.

• Pedometer, mechanical step-counters. (Envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500s, the "modern all-mechanical pedometer" introduced to America by President Jefferson via France in 1780s. Hmmmmm... that's from wikipedia, take with a grain of salt.  :-)   Wikipedia also says that during the 1960s-to-1980s pedometers became more popular in Japan.

1970s.

• (TBD?)
• Bicycle and information-producing assembly carried thereby 1975

1980s.

• Computer spreadsheet. See 1950s rep-chart.
• Full computerized tracking of exercise/diet 1985 "There are dozens of other packages available"
• Computerized bicycle dashboard 1985
• Data display instrument for a bicycle 1986
• Exercise equipment beginning to be computer controlled with tracking 1987
• Combination wristwatch and bicycle computer 1988

1990s. Continued incremental developments

• Bicycle with multiple integrated computers, LCD screen, a small part of which is a "standard" bicycle trip computer (mph, distance, etc.) 1990
• Bicycle computer with memory and means for comparing present and past performance in real time 1993

2000s.

• Internet-enhanced computer spreadsheet. See 1950s rep-chart.
• Pedometer#Integration_in_Personal_Electronic_Devices. iPod, Nike+iPod, NTT/Fujitsu, Nokia 5500/ST/SC, Sony W710/W580, Nintendo DS/Pokéwalker

2010s.

• Google Glass, which has a general-purpose self-spying system, for tracking one's movements generally (to include physical fitness stuff as a subset).
• (more devices from Pedometer) Nintendo 3DS, Philips MP3, Tractivity, Android v4.4, iPhone 5s

References

Please feel free to edit the information above directly, so we can collaborate faster. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 08:59, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I added some bicycle dates. I chose bicycles because in addition to pedometers they are another area where exercise specific computer tracking was sold to consumers. Some of the references are to US patents. These are not intended to be appropriate for the article. They were added here to get an idea for ballpark dates when different levels of integration were happening. Makyen (talk) 13:02, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Hello Makyen, very interesting, I had not even thought of bicycle computer, but of course now that you mention it....  :-)   There are a lot of devices that measure this kind of thing, for the purposes of exercise regimens. Rep chart for weight-lifters (interestingly we have tons of info at strength training and weight training but no mention of charts!), time trial chart for marathoners, pedometer for walking (and now "activity tracker" for generic daily exercise), bicycle computer for exercising/racing, and so on.

  As with most gadgets, the invention of plastic made everything cheaper in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s, and the invention of the PC made everything computerized in the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s. The tie-in with watches, smartphones, and social media deserve some coverage, but historically speaking they are a recentism. There is definitely something encyclopedic here; as to exactly what we should call the "parent" article of all these separate niche-technologies, I will reserve judgment for now. But my understanding from Yngvadottir is that there are quite a few WP:RS which are specifically using "activity tracker" to refer to a wearable computer device, more similar to a 'digital leash' that allows your doctor/employer/insurer/government to spy on your every waking move, akin to a heart-monitor-slash-permanent-pedometer. Yikes!  :-)   Meaning that, quite possibly, the generic term will be something more vague.

  It is not motion tracking, that is a particular kind of hollywood/videogame technology... these are more like flight recorders (generalized to ships and trains and trucks/cars... cf Black_box_(transportation)), but for humans not vehicles. The bicycle computer is at the intersection of these concepts: it measures vehicle-data like wheel-revolutions, but the vehicle is human-powered (and some of the more advanced cyclocomputers have a chest-strap to measure heart-rate during the trip... similar to heart monitors technologically but for a different goal).

  I think at the moment that probably what we will end up with as the grandparent-article is the data logger/chart recorder, as used for all sorts of generic functions. Either as a section in that grandparent, or in a new "aunt-and-uncle" pair of articles Data logger (fitness) and Data logger (vehicular), we could cover the groups. Thoughts? 74.192.84.101 (talk) 15:00, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Niche applications

The Metro Silicon Valley article demonstrates that the things have proliferated, with different companies taking different tacks. There are two sidebars. I left out for now: Heather Zimmerman, "Fit for (Certain) Bits", Metro Silicon Valley, September 24, 2014, p. 19, which reports on a British sex toy company, Bondara, being about to test a smart penile ring intended to coach to improved sexual performance. Yngvadottir (talk) 13:09, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

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Fitness tracker

When Garmin Connect computes my BMI on a daily basis from my reported body mass, it is not functioning as an activity tracker (unless the activity is filling my face), but as a fitness tracker. Across the industry, activity trackers are becoming (bloated) fitness trackers. Can this page title continue to make sense? — MaxEnt 02:42, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Health Sciences Information

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 September 2023 and 14 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): CosmicMasquerade-2000 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: RoxanneLIS.

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