SensorBadge: an exploratory study of an ego-centric wearable sensor system for healthy office environments

Sensing technology is increasingly used to collect data about the workplace to provide insights into building performance and work activities. While such systems provide meaningful insights, they are a ’black box’ in nature considering people as passive data subjects with no input into the sensing and data collection process. We propose a human-data interaction approach where human workers can opt-in using an ego-centric sensor platform – SensorBadge – that provides tools to collect and inspect personal office data. We describe a field exploration of Sensorbadge to understand the wearability, usability, and usefulness of ego-centric data collection. Our results show that office sensing systems should fit seamlessly in the office routine of individuals, without asking for extra effort or creating conflicts with work patterns. Data should be classified and presented against a frame of reference for comparison and visualized to create understandable and actionable representations with personal control of their office environment.