History
A small research team at the University of Bonn, Ionut (Johnny) Andone, Konrad Blaszkiewicz, Mark Eibes and assistant professor Alexander Markowetz were to study big data. Yet, there was no data available; only Google, Facebook, and Yahoo had access to such data. The team would have to collect its own data set. At the same time, smartphones changed the world and caused much concern. Combining these observations, the researchers designed the Menthal project. Joining forces with psychologist Christian Montag, they initiated the first large scale study of smartphone “addiction”.
The Menthal app tracks phone usage, computes in-depth analysis, and provides feedback to the user: “Your personal information scale for Android”. With approval of the institutional review board, the collected data remains on the Menthal servers, for academic analysis. Since its launch in 2014, Menthal has received massive press attention and attracted >700.000 participants. It now constitutes the largest data set of human behavior available to academic research collected through academic efforts. This dataset is for academic purpose only, and remains at the University of Bonn.
Over time, numerous researchers and corporations worldwide have asked to use Menthal technology for their own projects. Murmuras caters to these needs. Our focus lies especially on individual researchers without dedicated IT-budgets. Ideally, any MSc student should be able to run even extensive experiments directly on our platform. Larger research initiatives or corporate clients naturally enjoy any level of collaboration and customization.
The company name origins from the term “murmuration”, the complex flocking behavior displayed by starlings. Similarly, Murmuras studies the dynamics of human behavior on a large scale.
Uni Bonn press release ||
Uni Bonn Pressemitteilung
Innovation prize Germany 2020 ||
Preis digitale Innovation 2020
Gewinner Marktforschung.de Pitch 2021
Was Smartphones über unsere Gefühle preisgeben
Verkehrsministerium unterstützt Murmuras bei Projekt zur ÖPNV-Planung
SANEPHONE - Künstliche Intelligenz und dynamische Benutzeroberflächen zur Reduktion von digitalem Stress
DeFaktS - Faktoren und Stilmittel von Desinformationskampagnen erkennen und offenlegen
Menthal
The Menthal project itself continues to strive. Smartphone “addiction” is now even more of a topic than in 2014. Yet, the entire team graduated and is now part of Murmuras. Hence, we decided to continue support and move the Menthal project with us. Participants are invited to migrate to Murmuras servers, and will receive the same service as before. For more information on Menthal, click here.
👉 To install our Menthal-App, click here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=open.menthal
Menthal press articles
Smartphone-Sucht: Gönnt euch doch mal ‘ne Pause! || Bonner Uni-Studie : 53 Mal täglich das Handy in der Hand || “Zu viel Smartphone macht unglücklich” || Zeitfresser, Zeitsparer oder Zeitvertreiber? – Vom Umgang mit … || Smartphone-App “Menthal” schlägt Alarm || Handynutzung soll exakt erforscht werden Hat mich mein … || Apple und Google bringen Kontrolle ins Leben mit Smartphone || Menthal : l’application qui scrute vos applications… || App überwacht täglichen Smartphone-Konsum || Menthal Android app reveals your smartphone usage patterns || Menthal-App misst Smartphone-Nutzung || Un’app per scoprire se siete dipendenti dallo smartphone || Kostenlose App misst persönlichen Umgang mit dem … || Menthal App Will Show How Addicted We Are To Our … || App “Menthal” deckt Handy-Sucht auf ||
