Announcing the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project

Tidepool feels more strongly than ever that you own your own data and you get to choose how it gets used. We will never do anything with your data without your permission. Our first goal as a nonprofit organization is to help you achieve better diabetes therapy.

We do this by helping you liberate your diabetes device data, see it in intuitive software, and share it with your diabetes providers and whomever you’d like. As always, we believe that people with diabetes should have access to our software for free. That was a decision we made early, and one that continues to differentiate Tidepool from other diabetes app providers. Tidepool is here for you and the diabetes community.

Today, we are announcing the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project, a program that lets you securely and anonymously donate anonymized diabetes device data to researchers, device makers, and other innovators who deeply need it. Now the diabetes community will have the opportunity to make an impact in diabetes research and innovation on a scale worthy of the label “big data.” By donating your data, you will lead researchers to better insights and discoveries into diabetes management, help researchers build better algorithms for closed loop systems, help device makers bring safer, more innovative products to market, and enable Tidepool and other diabetes nonprofits to become stronger, more impactful organizations.

If you are willing to do so, we would love for you to donate the diabetes device data that you store with Tidepool to the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project.

Accelerate research

As we’ve grown, diabetes researchers, device makers, and other innovators have told us that using real-world datasets will help them innovate faster, create better products, and expand the boundaries of their knowledge about diabetes. But despite their big ambitions, these researchers and device makers are getting slowed down and sometimes stuck due to a lack of real-world data. Their requests led us to create the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project, where our community of people living with diabetes can confidently and securely contribute their data, and innovators can access it.

In some cases, we will charge researchers and device makers to get access to pre-qualified, donated, anonymized datasets that meet their needs. The fees charged to data partners for access to your donated, anonymized datasets will help keep our software free for people with diabetes and their clinicians, as it is today. These fees are not at the expense of your data’s integrity or security, or your personal safety. In other cases, we will make datasets available at no cost. 10% of the proceeds generated from the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project will be donated to other diabetes nonprofit organizations.

Support diabetes nonprofits

You can also help support a diabetes organization of your choosing on their mission. Tidepool is partnering with Beyond Type 1, CarbDM, Children with Diabetes, College Diabetes Network, Diabetes Hands Foundation, diaTribe Foundation, JDRF, Nightscout Foundation, T1D Exchange, and many other nonprofit diabetes support organizations. Anytime an industry partner uses Tidepool’s paid dataset qualification services and your donated dataset is selected, Tidepool will donate 10% of the proceeds to a nonprofit organization of your choice, giving back to the diabetes community, too.

How to donate your data

Already have your Tidepool account?

1. Sign in to your Tidepool account in Google Chrome
2. After you have logged in, you should see a blue header with a “Donate my anonymized data” button. Click “Donate my anonymized data”
3. If you’d like to have Tidepool donate 10% of the proceeds generated by your data donation to a nonprofit diabetes organization, click “Choose a diabetes nonprofit”
4. Select which nonprofit diabetes organization(s) you’d like to receive 10% of the proceeds generated by your data donation.
5. Don’t forget to save your settings!
6. If you don’t see the blue header, click on the account name at the top middle of the page to navigate to your profile settings
7. Check “Donate my anonymized data”.
8. Select which nonprofit diabetes organization(s) you’d like to receive 10% of the proceeds generated by your data donation.
9. Don’t forget to save your settings!
10. If you have an iPhone-connected Dexcom, setup automatic, continuous uploading using Tidepool’s iPhone app (step-by-step guide)
11. Upload your pump (Guides to Animas, Minimed, Omnipod, Tandem) or Dexcom receiver
12. Set a reminder to upload your data at least every month.

New to Tidepool?

1. Create your free account at tidepool.org/signup
2. Follow the instructions to verify your account and Set Up Data Storage
3. Check the option to “Donate your anonymized data”
4. If you would like Tidepool to send 10% of the proceeds generated by your data donation to a diabetes nonprofit organization, select one from the dropdown menu. Click Share.
5. Start Uploading Your Data
6. If you have an iPhone-connected Dexcom, setup automatic, continuous uploading using Tidepool’s iPhone app (step-by-step guide)
7. Install the Tidepool Uploader (step-by-step guide) and Driver onto your Mac or PC
8. Upload your pump (Guides to Animas, Minimed, Omnipod, Tandem) or Dexcom receiver
9. Set a reminder to upload your data at least every month.

If you have any additional questions, check out our FAQ at the bottom of tidepool.org/bigdata. We’ve thought a lot about what this project can accomplish within the diabetes community.

If you have any questions about the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project, send us an email at bigdata@tidepool.org.