I took a glance at a new application–evidently not out yet–which will be interesting to examine in some detail.
The h(app)athon project is working to realize a vision of, well, happiness-based living. This concept is laid out in the book Hacking H(app)iness by John C. Havens. The subtitle for the book is, “Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking It Can Change the World”, which is a very complex claim, indeed!
Basically, the goal is to measure “success” by stuff other than GDP, which means, a) knowing your own real values and b) aligning life and behavior toward those values. Notably, altruistic actions are likely to make you and everyone happier.
The “data” part of it is that sensor-rich environments and tons of personal data make it possible for us to measure ourselves–so we should use those capabilities to help us act in ways that will make us (and everybody) happier. Also, social technologies create opportunities for more and better “altruism”.
This is all based on theory and research, which I will examine in detail Real Soon Now. (Really–the review under construction.)
The project is walking the walk: they are working on an app that implements their theories in concrete ways.
“What the H(app)athon
App will Do:
- Helps users track their Values based on active and passive data collection and analysis (their answers plus sensor data).
- Connects users to Actions (either for themselves or for volunteer opportunities) that will increase their happiness/well-being.
- Provides a “global mood ring for the world” that portrays real-time Happiness Data from around the globe to help policy makers or anyone else see why the holistic measure of well-being could help guide their decisions with greater context than the GDP.”
From: http://happathon.com/app/
OK-that‘s not ambitious at all!
It sound terrif, but can it really work? And will it work for ME? (What else matters? :-))
It will be very interesting to see how this app really works. These guys have a lot of experience, so I’m pretty sure it won’t be trivial or silly.
Robert McGrath's Blog 
Hi Robert,
Thanks very much for your post, and I’m sorry I haven’t responded sooner. It is very ambitious to build this kind of an App, especially as a non-profit. However, we have created a new Values survey you can take for free which essentially is what the app will do but in web-based format. What we’ve found is that some of the cities we’re trying to work in (like Reading, PA) has a number of people who don’t have access to smartphones. So the web-based survey (pre-App) was also a good way for us to go.
Really welcome your interest, and I hope we can make our App happen if we get the funding. For now, we hope the survey, created in conjunction with a leading PhD in the field of Positive Psychology from UPENN, will be helpful to people looking to better understand what brings them a sense of purpose and how they can help others while improving their wellbeing.
Cheers,
JCH
LikeLike