Description
TimeTracker is a smartphone application for collecting research data. It was developed through collaboration between the University of Hohenheim and Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart and used to study time use in rural Zambia.
Participants record their own activities in near real time. This aims to reduce the memory errors that can arise in recall-based surveys. Pictorial input makes the app easier to use for people with limited literacy. The project combines app development and design with questions in development research.
Dates
2016, as specified by Hannes Buchwald.
My role
The project website credits Hannes Buchwald with “Coding & Design”.
Partners
- University of Hohenheim — Collaboration partner.
- Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart — Collaboration partner.
- IAPRI — Collaboration partner, according to Hannes Buchwald; represented by the institute’s logo on the project website.
Collaboration
The team presented on the website brings together research, programming, design, illustration and local research assistance. Thomas Daum is named as project lead, Natalis Lorenz as illustrator, and Regina Birner and Ansgar Gerlicher as academic supervisors.
Outcomes
- Development of a pictorial smartphone application for data collection.
- Use in recording time-use data in rural Zambia, according to the project website.
- Academic publications on the method and its application.
Publications
The following links and dates were taken from the project website’s Publications section. Individual destinations have not been checked for currency or availability. Some links lead to overview pages; their association follows the original project website. This does not establish personal authorship or speaking participation by Hannes Buchwald.
Papers
- Times Have Changed: Using a Pictorial Smartphone App to Collect Time–Use Data in Rural Zambia — SAGE Publications, October 2018.
- Smartphone Apps as a new Method to Collect Data on Smallholder Farming Systems in the Digital Age: A Case Study from Zambia — Elsevier / ScienceDirect, August 2018.
- The Potential of Apps to Study Smallholder Farming Systems and More — Rural21, April 2017 according to the project website.
Press
- Influences on the division of labour — Focus Online, 4 June 2018.
- Supporting smallholder farmers in Zambia — Traction 3/2018, 1 May 2018.
- An insightful click diary — Stuttgarter Zeitung, 7 February 2017.
- Time Tracker app – African smallholder farmers record working time via smartphone — Landtechnik, 12 January 2017.
- App reveals the workload of African smallholder farmers — Glaubeaktuell, 11 January 2017.
- Further publications on the project website.
Awards
- Award: Landmark 2018 — Germany Land of Ideas / Deutschland – Land der Ideen, 4 June 2018 according to the project website.
Presentations
- GEWISOLA 2018 Conference — 58th GEWISOLA annual conference, Kiel, 12–14 September 2018.
- 30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists — IAAE, Vancouver, 28 July–2 August 2018.
- ICBAR 2018 — International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research, World Bank, Washington, D.C., 12–15 June 2018 according to the project website. The linked URL contains 2017; this discrepancy has not been checked.
- GIL 2018 Conference — GIL annual conference, Kiel, 26–27 February 2018.
Images and links
App image saved locally from the TimeTracker project website. Original: http://timetracker.cc/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/timetracker-front-uai-516x969.png
Sources
TimeTracker – project website, particularly About the Project, Publications and Team Members. Accessed on 12 October 2026.