Imagining Sociable Objects

“Credit Check Your Calories”Ways of tracking Health Related Issues via Credit

Card Transactions

Keeping Count

Breaking Down the Numbers

What a Credit Card Can Tell Now

• Date/Time• Itemized Purchase Order• Transactions details and data compiled into a

personal database• Allows for itemization and parsing of complete

monthly/ yearly data into relevant groupings

What a Restaurant Can Tell Now

• Date/ Time• Items Purchased• Nutritional information of all items

BUTThe nutritional information is not collected/

compiled at time of purchase. If you want to keep track, you must manually record it.

Connecting the Count• Imagine: a credit card is

swiped at restaurant – nutritional information about the purchase is recorded into a database.

Transaction1.1 1.10.2010 12:34 Total Calories Total Fat Total Sugars

Burrtio 1280 49g 6g

Chips 570 27g 4g

Imagine the Possibilities• Warnings: MAY CONTAIN….

When you swipe credit card at restaurant, a warning is given to indicate products that contain potential allergens

Possibilities Continue• Warning: EXCEEDED DAILY ALLOWANCE• Doctor could recommend limits to be placed on credit card for

particular data warnings.

Diabetes – warning for high sugar content

Obesity – Percent of daily calorie recommended, fat content

High Blood Pressure – sodium and cholesterol warnings

Heart Disease, Cancer, Osteoporosis – any health issue canbe addressed more specifically by data tracking.

Interconnectivity!Your choice Your credit cardTheir restaurant nutritional databaseYour personal physician’s databaseA world of possibilities for health reform