Self-tracking cultures: towards a sociology of personal informatics

by | Dec 3, 2014 | Research Publications

Author:

Deborah Lupton

Abstract:

A body of literature on self-tracking has been established in human-computer interaction studies. Contributors to this literature tend to take a cognitive or behavioural psychology approach to theorising and explaining self-tracking. Such an approach is limited to understanding individual behaviour. Yet self-tracking is a profoundly social practice, both in terms of the enculturated meanings with which it is invested and the social encounters and social institutions that are part of the self-tracking phenomenon. In this paper I contend that sociological perspectives can contribute some intriguing possibilities for human-computer interaction research, particularly in developing an understanding of the wider social, cultural and political dimensions of what I refer to as ‘self-tracking cultures’. The discussion focuses on the following topics: self-optimisation and governing the self; entanglements of bodies and technologies; the valorisation of data; data doubles; and social inequalities and self-tracking. The paper ends with outlining some directions for future research on self-tracking cultures that goes beyond the individual to the social.

Document:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2686612.2686623

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