Memo-it: a research platform on your smartphone

Memo-it is a research platform to run large-scale user studies focused on understanding multiple aspects of the human behavior, especially those related to memories. We have been developing Memo-it since 2013 (in collaboration with Samsung Research), and it currently comprises 1) an Android app and 2) a scalable Google backend. Most of our efforts until today have been devoted to build a stable, battery-conscious lifelogging app that collects plenty of user data (e.g., daily activities, phone usage, emotions, etc.), without leaking any information to third-party services. At the same time, we developed a scalable backend for researchers (Research-As-A-Platform) to analyze the aggregated and anonymized data that we collect through the Android app.

You’ll be collaborating with a team of motivated students and researchers on a daily basis. Your role will be defined precisely few weeks before you join the team (depending on the current status of the development), but you can both contribute to the app itself, or to improve the features and user-friendliness of the backend. Last but not the least, Memo-it is a constantly-evolving research platform, so you could help us extract valuable insights from the data we collect, or even propose your own user-study!

The challenges you will have to tackle depend on your motivation and skills. Enthusiasm, on the other hand, is mandatory during the whole length of the project 🙂

Prerequisites

• Able to write reusable AND testable Java code
• Developed at least a small project on the Android environment
• Familiar with the Git/GitHub workflow
• Great communication skills

Preferred, but not required

• Familiar with Data Mining, Machine Learning, and Big Data analytics