· 2014
Personal tracking as lived informatics
- 657citations
- 2014year
Short summary
Activity trackers are used as 'lived informatics,' blending devices and social interactions, rather than for purely personal, goal-driven data collection.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Activity trackers are used as 'lived informatics,' not just personal data tools.
- Users often combine multiple, sometimes redundant, activity trackers.
- Tracking is frequently a social and collaborative activity.
- Information from trackers is used for immediate, short-term goals and decisions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This paper characterises the use of activity trackers as "lived informatics". This characterisation is contrasted with other discussions of personal informatics and the quantified self. The paper reports an interview study with activity tracker users. The study found: people do not logically organise, but interweave various activity trackers, sometimes with ostensibly the same functionality; that tracking is often social and collaborative rather than personal; that there are different styles of tracking, including goal driven tracking and documentary tracking; and that tracking information is often used and interpreted with reference to daily or short term goals and decision making. We suggest there will be difficulties in personal informatics if we ignore the way that personal tracking is enmeshed with everyday life and people's outlook on their future.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source., 2014 · DOI ↗
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Field: Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer InteractionComputer Science