Personal tracking as lived informatics

John Rooksby; Mattias Rost; Alistair Morrison; Matthew Chalmers

doi:10.1145/2556288.2557039

Personal tracking as lived informatics

John Rooksby, Mattias Rost, Alistair Morrison, Matthew Chalmers

Computer and Information Sciences Department

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

489 Citations (Scopus)

45 Downloads (Pure)

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.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2014
Subtitle of host publication	One of a CHInd - Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Matt Jones, Philippe Palanque
Publisher	ACM
Pages	1163-1172
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	9781450324731
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557039
Publication status	Published - 26 Apr 2014
Event	SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Canada Duration: 26 Apr 2014 → 1 May 2014 http://chi2014.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Abbreviated title	CHI '14
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Toronto
Period	26/04/14 → 1/05/14
Internet address	http://chi2014.acm.org/

Keywords

Activity Tracking
Data
Qualitative methods

Access to Document

10.1145/2556288.2557039

Rooksby_LivedInformatics-CHI14Accepted author manuscript, 340 KB

Cite this

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title = "Personal tracking as lived informatics",

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.",

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booktitle = "CHI 2014",

publisher = "ACM",

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Rooksby, J, Rost, M, Morrison, A & Chalmers, M 2014, Personal tracking as lived informatics. in M Jones & P Palanque (eds), CHI 2014: One of a CHInd - Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, pp. 1163-1172, SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Toronto, Canada, 26/04/14. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557039

Personal tracking as lived informatics. / Rooksby, John; Rost, Mattias; Morrison, Alistair et al.
CHI 2014: One of a CHInd - Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Matt Jones; Philippe Palanque. ACM, 2014. p. 1163-1172.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Personal tracking as lived informatics

AU - Rooksby, John

AU - Rost, Mattias

AU - Morrison, Alistair

AU - Chalmers, Matthew

PY - 2014/4/26

Y1 - 2014/4/26

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Activity Tracking

KW - Data

KW - Qualitative methods

U2 - 10.1145/2556288.2557039

DO - 10.1145/2556288.2557039

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84900438318

SN - 9781450324731

SP - 1163

EP - 1172

BT - CHI 2014

A2 - Jones, Matt

A2 - Palanque, Philippe

PB - ACM

T2 - SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Y2 - 26 April 2014 through 1 May 2014

ER -

Personal tracking as lived informatics

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this