Digital Device Use Self-Monitoring Platform (D2USP)

The Digital Device Use Self-Monitoring Platform (D2USP) is a platform for non-commercial basic research on the digitalization of society, based at the University of Zurich. We study how people actually use their digital devices in an ethically responsible way, while fully protecting the anonymity and privacy of everyone involved.

At the core of the platform is PersonalAnalytics, a privacy-friendly, open-source software for collecting and anonymously analyzing digital behavioral data. It gives researchers a ready-to-deploy tool for field studies, and gives participants and citizens a private self-monitoring app whose data never leaves their own device without their explicit consent.

• Information for researchers – configure and deploy PersonalAnalytics for your own field study, including example study designs.
• PersonalAnalytics software – what the software captures, and how the data stays protected and is shared.

Updates from the platform's studies, as well as key developments of the PersonalAnalytics software.

Studies & platform

• 2026: PersonalAnalytics featured in GitHub Maintainer Month – spotlighted for its decade-long impact on productivity research.
• Dec 2025: Update on D2USP and first results at the DSI Work Lunch
• Oct 2025: First results of the SWELL study (Student Well-Being and Learning on Laptops)
• Jul 2025: New publication on the AIRbar study
• Jun 2025: DSI podcast "Genial Digital": How can we boost our productivity through self-reflection?
• Feb 2025: Study on Student Well-Being and Learning on Laptops (SWELL)
• Nov 2024: Study on digital competencies in higher education (DIGKOM) 
• Sep 2024: Study on digital device use in higher education (STUDIG)
• Aug 2024: Study on understanding sleep's role in daily productivity

Software updates (PersonalAnalytics)

• Sep 2026 (v0.0.58): Reworked retrospection & multiple questions in experience sampling. The activity timeline now shows details on hover (visited websites, files worked on), self-reports are visualized, and active work hours and screen time are shown separately. Release notes
• Apr 2026 (v0.0.53): New daily retrospection – an end-of-day summary of fragmentation and time spent at the computer, giving participants direct insight into their own usage patterns. Release notes
• Mar 2026 (v0.0.54): Daily surveys at the start and/or end of the workday, timed relative to each participant's own work hours. Release notes
• Mar 2026 (v0.0.52): New question types in experience sampling – in addition to Likert scales, now also free text (single- and multi-line) and single- and multiple-choice. Release notes
• Feb 2026 (v0.0.50): Integration with the UZH Data Donation Lab (DDL) – a first version of secure, encrypted data transfer to UZH servers for faster and easier sharing of study data. Release notes

• Responsibility: All studies are conducted to the strictest ethical standards.
• Anonymity: Protecting participants' privacy is the top priority.
• Reliability: We build tailored tools for collecting and analyzing digital behavior.

Nothing happens without your consent. All data is first stored exclusively on your own device. If you take part in a study, we ask you at certain intervals whether and which of your data you would like to share with us in anonymized form. Only after your consent is the data prepared so that you can transmit it securely via our protected server.

This project is supported by the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) of the University of Zurich.