So what is this all about?
Caffeine, alcohol, legal and illegal drugs can all change our state of mind. Very often that is why we take them! But what exactly is happening? Will it be the same next time? Different drugs have different effects on different people. Combine one drug with another and it becomes even harder to know what is happening. Worse still most research ignores the everyday aspects of drug use. Funding and politics can require researchers to focus on ‘problem users’. Or else the effects are studied in highly controlled laboratory conditions distant from the social settings where people actually take drugs. This project is not like that. It is about what happens to your brain on your choice of drugs.
The internet and smartphones mean that our laboratory can come to you. With this site and our associated smartphone applications we will provide you with tools to test your brain, wherever you are and in whatever state of intoxication you find yourself. We want to give you instant, honest feedback. We hope to give you ways of telling how drink and drugs affect your memory, your mood, your coordination and more. This is an inexact science so please use your common sense when interpreting your scores. And we will do the same
You can tell us as much or as little as you like about yourself. And you will always be able to change your mind later. We will never collected any data that could directly identify you. We believe in open systems, open data and open minds. The code we write will be open sourced. The data we collect will be available to anyone that wants to study it. We are not setting out to prove that any particular drugs are ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
YourBrainOnDrugs.net is a non-profit, scientific and social project that aims to empower drug users with personalised data about the real effects of drugs on our daily lives.
We’re just getting started so there’s not much to see yet. But as time goes by you can expect:
- Updates on the development of our Android application.
- Site updates – stuff relating to the site, its purpose, changes, growth etc
- War on drugs – Commentary and satire on the most damaging and pointless war since the war for oil.
- Policy – short pieces on social policy relating to drugs and alcohol
- Science – the neurophysiology, psychology, sociology of drug use and abuse.
- Medicine – Let’s not forget that pharmaceuticals are drugs too.
- Videos – a selection of the finest Public service announcements through the ages and other amusing, interesting & entertaining videos.
- Culture – short posts relating to drugs culture
- Experience – short first person posts written by outreach workers, users, scientists. Bringing a personal aspect to the discussions
- Commentary – short commentaries on interesting links, articles, reports etc.
- Technology – discussion of the technology that will power the smartphone applications and will make possible the data collection and visualization.
- Other stuff (probably) – we are making this up as we go along.
Please spread the word and feel free to loiter or pass comment,
Mark and Caspar
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
About Caspar
Caspar Addyman has a BA in mathematics, a BSc in psychology and PhD in developmental psychology. He works at the CBCD at Birkbeck, University of London. Before becoming an infantologist he spent eight years writing trading systems in the City. He lives in Brixton, Berlin and Dijon. He never drinks the same drink twice in a night and dances without spilling a drop. Twitter: @BrainStraining
Welcome
So what is this all about?
Caffeine, alcohol, legal and illegal drugs can all change our state of mind. Very often that is why we take them! But what exactly is happening? Will it be the same next time? Different drugs have different effects on different people. Combine one drug with another and it becomes even harder to know what is happening. Worse still most research ignores the everyday aspects of drug use. Funding and politics can require researchers to focus on ‘problem users’. Or else the effects are studied in highly controlled laboratory conditions distant from the social settings where people actually take drugs. This project is not like that. It is about what happens to your brain on your choice of drugs.
The internet and smartphones mean that our laboratory can come to you. With this site and our associated smartphone applications we will provide you with tools to test your brain, wherever you are and in whatever state of intoxication you find yourself. We want to give you instant, honest feedback. We hope to give you ways of telling how drink and drugs affect your memory, your mood, your coordination and more. This is an inexact science so please use your common sense when interpreting your scores. And we will do the same
You can tell us as much or as little as you like about yourself. And you will always be able to change your mind later. We will never collected any data that could directly identify you. We believe in open systems, open data and open minds. The code we write will be open sourced. The data we collect will be available to anyone that wants to study it. We are not setting out to prove that any particular drugs are ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
YourBrainOnDrugs.net is a non-profit, scientific and social project that aims to empower drug users with personalised data about the real effects of drugs on our daily lives.
We’re just getting started so there’s not much to see yet. But as time goes by you can expect:
Please spread the word and feel free to loiter or pass comment,
Mark and Caspar
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
About Caspar
Caspar Addyman has a BA in mathematics, a BSc in psychology and PhD in developmental psychology. He works at the CBCD at Birkbeck, University of London. Before becoming an infantologist he spent eight years writing trading systems in the City. He lives in Brixton, Berlin and Dijon. He never drinks the same drink twice in a night and dances without spilling a drop. Twitter: @BrainStraining