Feedback

Slate.com (one of my favorite online news sites) has this interesting article on having a monitoring device to give you feedback on driving habits. It's been pretty well known that giving people feedback on their performance can really change their behavior. If you've ever driven a hybrid you know that the "mpg game" can be a hugely amusing distraction. It's interesting to think about how we can use feedback in daily life to improve all manner of things... Speaking of improvements, this also really reminds me of Atul Gawande's book "Better", about improvements in health practices and surgery. It really highlights the effect of quantitative feedback on performance. Lots of food for thought.