Self-tracking practices are growing in popularity worldwide. From heart-rate monitoring to mood tracking, many believe that wearable technologies are making their users more mindful in exclusively positive ways. However, I will argue that consistent and deliberate self-tracking (with or without portable devices) necessitates a particular understanding of the self with consequences that have yet to be fully explored. Through an analysis of forum posts on a popular self-tracking discussion and informational site, QuantifiedSelf.com, I will claim that self-trackers approach the creation of self-knowledge in a manner that is particular to today’s society. I will discuss how the ubiquitous conflation of numerical identities with objective reasoning feeds into a mindset that supports quantification of the self, and how the views of self exhibited by these self-trackers can be considered a version of creating a “scientific self.” The notion of the scientific self supports both an individual and societal shift in the practice of “being”—a shift that carries with it many possible repercussions that have yet to be widely analyzed. This analysis, I will argue, is key to limiting the destructive potential of understanding people in terms of data, while simultaneously enabling new conceptualizations of self to be practiced in modern society.

Tjänster för "självkvantifiering" är populära och innefattar ofta funktioner för jämförelser av prestationer användare emellan. När en kultur av jämförelse uppstår finns det risk för att användare bedömer sina prestationer utifrån de normer som bildas i en viss krets ("normerna"). Detta i kontrast till att bedöma prestationer utifrån vetenskapligt motiverade rekommendationer ("rekommendationerna"). Vi ville ta reda på hur användares omdömen påverkas av de två olika grunderna för jämförelse.  Vi fokuserade på den enkla självkvantifieringstypen stegräkning. Vi lät 20 personer använda en stegräknare under en veckas tid. Därefter fick de svara på en enkät där de fick se hur de hade presterat (steg/dag i genomsnitt) och där de fick avlägga omdömen om sina prestationer enligt en niogradig skala. Enkäten hade 3 steg: I det första steget fanns ingen grund för jämförelse; i det andra fanns ett diagram för jämförelse med normen (konstruerade data); i det tredje fanns ett diagram för jämförelse med rekommendationen (konstruerade data). Deltagarna var uppdelade i fyra grupper: A (+/+), B (+/-), C (-/+), D (-/-)*. Resultatet blev att både normen och rekommendationen påverkade användarnas omdömen och att normen hade störst betydelse. 69 % (11/16) ändrade sina omdömen efter att ha fått se normen och skillnaden i omdöme var i genomsnitt 1,1 på den niogradiga skalan. Deltagare hade här lättare för att höja omdömet än att sänka det. I grupperna B (+/-) och C (-/+), som fick se en rekommendation som motsade normen, ändrade 63 % (5/8) sina omdömen efter att ha fått se rekommendationen och skillnaden var i genomsnitt 1,0. Rekommendationen påverkade till stor del omdömet i motsatt riktning jämfört med normen.  Utifrån våra resultat skulle vi rekommendera att inte bara inkludera jämförelsefunktioner, utan även vetenskapliga rekommendationer, i tjänster för självkvantifiering. Dock är tillförlitligheten hos våra resultat låg, eftersom deltagarna var få och ur en väldigt specifik grupp. Vårt arbete bidrar huvudsakligen med en välgenomtänkt metodik som går att utveckla.  * Tecknet innan snedstrecket anger hur gruppen i de konstruerade diagrammen placerades jämfört med normen och tecknet efter hur gruppen placerades jämfört med rekommendationen. Till exempel betyder (+/-) "över normen, under rekommendationen". / "Quantified self" services are popular and often contains features for comparing performances between users. When a comparison culture arises, there is a risk that users assess their performances based on the norms that form in a certain circle ("the norms"). This can be contrasted with assessing performances based on scientifically motivated recommendations ("the recommendations"). We wanted to find out how users’ assessments are affected by the two grounds for comparison.  We focused on step-counting, which is a simple form of self-quantification. We let 20 people use a pedometer for a week’s time. They then answered a survey, where they got to see how they had performed (average steps/day) and got to assess their performances on a nine-step scale. The survey had 3 steps: In the first step there were no ground for comparison; in the second one there was a diagram for comparing against the norm (forged data); in the third one there was a diagram for comparing against the recommendation (forged data). The participants were split up into four groups: A (+/+), B (+/-), C (-/+), D (-/-)*. The results were that both the norm and the recommendation affected the users’ assessments and that the norm had the biggest impact. 69 % (11/16) changed their assessments after having seen the norm and the difference in assessment was on average 1.1. Here, participants were more inclined to higher their assessment than to lower it. In groups B (+/-) and C (-/+), that got to see a recommendation that contradicted the norm, 63 % (5/8) changed their assessments after having seen the recommendation and the difference was on average 1.0. The recommendation largely affected the assessment in the opposite direction of the norm.  Based on our results, we would recommend including not only comparison features, but also scientific recommendations, in quantified self services. However, the reliability of our results is low, since the participants were few and came from a very specific group. Our work mainly contributes a well-thought-out methodology that can be developed further.  * The symbol before the slash indicates how the group was placed in the forged diagrams compared to the norm and the symbol after how the group was placed compared to the recommendation. Example given, (+/-) means "above the norm, below the recommendation".

Mobiltelefoner, sociala medier och smarta teknologier är idag en självklar del av tillvaron för många. Samtidigt har överanvändning av mobiltelefoner förknippats med psykisk ohälsa. Som del av utvecklingen av smarta telefoner, appar och tillgången till stora datamängder har även fenomenet att bevaka sina egna vanor med hjälp av tekniken blivit vanligt förekommande. Denna typ av informationsinsamling kallas för quantified self-data och intresset för tekniken är stort. Tidigare forskning om quantified self-data antyder att det skulle kunna vara ett kraftfullt hjälpmedel för en användare som vill förbättra sin livskvalitet. Ett däremot outforskat område är vad som händer med effekterna av quantified self när det ställs mot teknologier som redan vunnit mark i att styra en användares beteende, exempelvis våra smartphones. Denna studie syftade till att utforska detta område och frågan som ställs är hur kontinuerlig feedback i form av quantified self-data, via en mobilapplikation, har för inverkan på en mobilanvändares upplevelse av mobilen och sin användning av den. I studien fick åtta deltagare under två veckor använda sig av mobilapplikationen Moment, som presenterar data om en användares mobilanvändning. Deltagarna ombads även skriva ner dagliga reflektioner i en loggbok. Resultatet visar på att appen tillsammans med loggboken fick deltagarna att aktivt reflektera över sin användning. Deltagarna ansåg att deras användning förblev oförändrad, men att appen och dess data mestadels motiverade till ett minskat användande. Samtliga deltagare trodde att appen var ett bra hjälpmedel för den som vill minska sin mobilanvändning. / Smartphones and social media have become common parts of our everyday life. At the same time, smartphone attachment and overuse have been associated with negative implications on mental health. As a part of the development of smartphones, apps and the access to great amounts of data, the phenomenon of tracking one’s own habits is frequently occurring. This type of data gathering is called quantified self and there is a big interest in the technology. Previous research suggests that quantified self could be a powerful tool for a user wishing to improve his or her life quality. However, the effect of quantified self when put up against technology that is already effective in steering users’ behaviors, such as our smartphones, remains an unexplored subject. This study aimed to explore that subject and the questioned asked is how continuous feedback through quantified self, when presented in a mobile application, influences a smartphone user’s experience of the phone and the usage of it. In the study conducted, eight participants used the application Moment during two weeks, an application which presents the user with data about phone usage. Participants where prompted to write down daily reflections in a journal. The result shows that the app together with the journal made the participants actively reflect on their phone usage. Participants felt that their usage remained unchanged, but that the app mostly motivated them to reduce their usage. All participants thought that the app would be a good aid for those who want to reduce their smartphone usage.

Thesis advisor: Natalia Sarkisian / The recent proliferation of technologies to collect and analyze “Big Data” has changed the research landscape, making it easier for some to use unprecedented amounts of real-time data to guide decisions and build ‘knowledge.’ In the three articles of this dissertation, I examine what these changes reveal about the nature of expertise and the position of the researcher. In the first article, “Monopoly or Generosity? ‘Rock Stars’ of Big Data, Data Democrats, and the Role of Technologies in Systems of Expertise,” I challenge the claims of recent scholarship, which frames the monopoly of experts and the spread of systems of expertise as opposing forces. I analyze video recordings (N= 30) of the proceedings of two professional conferences about Big Data Analytics (BDA), and I identify distinct orientations towards BDA practice among presenters: (1) those who argue that BDA should be conducted by highly specialized “Rock Star” data experts, and (2) those who argue that access to BDA should be “democratized” to non-experts through the use of automated technology. While the “data democrats” ague that automating technology enhances the spread of the system of BDA expertise, they ignore the ways that it also enhances, and hides, the monopoly of the experts who designed the technology. In addition to its implications for practitioners of BDA, this work contributes to the sociology of expertise by demonstrating the importance of focusing on both monopoly and generosity in order to study power in systems of expertise, particularly those relying extensively on technology. Scholars have discussed several ways that the position of the researcher affects the production of knowledge. In “Distance Makes the Scholar Grow Fonder? The Relationship Between Analytical Distance and Critical Reflection on Methods in Big Data Analytics,” I pinpoint two types of researcher “distance” that have already been explored in the literature (experiential and interactional), and I identify a third type of distance—analytical distance—that has not been examined so far. Based on an empirical analysis of 113 articles that utilize Twitter data, I find that the analytical distance that authors maintain from the coding process is related to whether the authors include explicit critical reflections about their research in the article. Namely, articles in which the authors automate the coding process are significantly less likely to reflect on the reliability or validity of the study, even after controlling for factors such as article length and author’s discipline. These findings have implications for numerous research settings, from studies conducted by a team of scholars who delegate analytic tasks, to “big data” or “e-science” research that automates parts of the analytic process. Individuals who engage in self-tracking—collecting data about themselves or aspects of their lives for their own purposes—occupy a unique position as both researcher and subject. In the sociology of knowledge, previous research suggests that low experiential distance between researcher and subject can lead to more nuanced interpretations but also blind the researcher to his or her underlying assumptions. However, these prior studies of distance fail to explore what happens when the boundary between researcher and subject collapses in “N of one” studies. In “The Collapse of Experiential Distance and the Inescapable Ambiguity of Quantifying Selves,” I borrow from art and literary theories of grotesquerie—another instance of the collapse of boundaries—to examine the collapse of boundaries in self-tracking. Based on empirical analyses of video testimonies (N=102) and interviews (N=7) with members of the Quantified Self community of self-trackers, I find that ambiguity and multiplicity are integral facets of these data practices. I discuss the implications of these findings for the sociological study of researcher distance, and also the practical implications for the neoliberal turn that assigns responsibility to individuals to collect, analyze, and make the best use of personal data. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

'Wearables' and 'self-quantifying technologies' are becoming ever more popular and normalised in society as a means of 'knowing' the self. How are these technologies implicated in this endeavour? Using insights from a four year multi-sited ethnography of the 'Quantified Self', I explore how the self is 'done' in the context of using technologies that purport to quantify the self in some way. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS) sensibilities, I conduct a four- pronged investigation into 'self-making' by drawing upon, and expanding, existing theories of agency and performativity, number, data-visualisation, and enactment. I find that self-quantifying technologies are productive in the doing of the self and are implicated in the process of making boundaries around that which comes to be known as the 'self' in a particular moment. The numbers and visualisations that result from practices of self-quantification enable a new way of 'seeing' the self, and provide a way of communicating this self with others. The self is thus not a pre-existing entity that simply requires these technologies as a means to 'know' it. Rather, the self is constantly being done with these technologies and within the surrounding practices of self-quantification. In order to highlight the different parts of this process, I proffer the term 'entractment'. This term explains how these different elements come together to culminate in the production of a momentarily constant self in a particular context. It is a way of simultaneously encapsulating the processes of intra-action, extra-action and enactment with/in a community. In sum, it captures the conclusion that, in the context of self-quantification, we must understand the self as a collective enactment, achieved, at least in part, through the use of self-quantifying technologies that produce numerical data which facilitate visualisations that are imperative to the doing of the self.

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Att mäta och synliggöra data om sig själv med hjälp av tekniska hjälpmedel, så kallad Quantified self, blir allt vanligare. Samtidigt förbrukar vi långt mer koldioxid än vad vår planet klarar av. Den här rapporten undersökte därför relationen mellan användning av Quantified self-verktyg och inställning till det egna koldioxidutsläppet från mat, återvinning och resor. Vi ville se om metoden kunde användas för att påverka människors syn på sina koldioxidutsläpp. Frågeställningen som undersöktes var hur tillgång till QS-data rörande koldioxidavtryck för mat, hushållsavfall och resor påverkar individers inställning till beteendeförändringar och insikt om det egna beteendet inom dessa områden. För att besvara frågeställningen genomfördes en studie där deltagarna fick daglig återkoppling på sitt koldioxidutsläpp i de tre kategorierna samt fick besvara en enkät före och efter studien om deras inställning i frågan. Resultaten analyserades sedan med hjälp av modellen The Behaviour Change Wheel - kapacitet, möjlighet och motivation i relation till beteende. Resultaten visade ett samband mellan återkopplingen på koldioxidutsläpp och ökad förståelse för, respektive motivation att minska, sin koldioxidförbrukning. Tillgången till QS-data verkade således positivt på majoriteten av deltagarna i den mening att de efter studien uppgav sig villigare att leva mer klimatsmart. För framtida forskning inom området är det relevant att reflektera över utformningen av QS-verktyget som används för insamling av data och i vilken kontext datan presenteras, då det kan komma att påverka resultatet. I framtida studier kan det även vara intressant att använda sig av deltagare utan initialt intresse av att ändra sina vanor för ett mer hållbart klimat, för att tydligare kunna se resultat av förändringar i inställning och insikt gentemot klimatfrämjande åtgärder. / The logging of personal data using technology aiming to increase self-knowledge, also known as Quantified Self, is a rapidly developing movement. At the same time, we are using far more carbon dioxide than our planet can handle. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the relation between the use of Quantified Self tools and the attitude towards one's own carbon dioxide emissions regarding food, recycling and travels. We wanted to explore whether the method could be used to affect people’s views on their own emissions. The research question was how access to QS-data regarding carbon dioxide emissions from food, recycling and travels affects individual’s attitudes towards behaviour change and knowledge about their own behaviour within these areas. To answer the question at issue we conducted a study where the participants got daily feedback on their carbon dioxide emissions from the three categories mentioned and were asked to answer a questionnaire, both before and after the study, about their attitude towards the matter.   The results were then analyzed using The Behaviour Change Wheel model - capacity, opportunity and motivation in relation to behaviour. The results showed a connection between the feedback on the emissions and an increased understanding for, and motivation to decrease, one’s own carbon dioxide consumption. The access to QS-data had a positive effect on most of the participants in the sense that after the study, they were willing to try to live more climate friendly. For future research within the subject it is relevant to reflect on the design of the QS tool that is being used for the data gathering and in which context the data is being presented, since it could affect the outcome. In future studies, it could be interesting to use participants without an initial interest of changing one’s habits to be more climate friendly, since it might give more clear results of actual changes in attitudes towards, and knowledge about, climate encouraging measures.

Wearable technologies are creating new ways for people to discover and record personal data. While these devices are raising awareness about biometric information, there is a larger quantified self movement encompassing any type of personal data collected by any means and recorded and shared in a variety of ways. Participants in this movement are experimenting with new ways to view and interact with their generated digital information. On a societal level, as we collect more data (personal or otherwise) we are questioning who should have access to different types of data and how collected data should be used. Visual Imprints documents an exploration into how location data is collected, visualized, and understood by people with varying degrees of data literacy. Through the design and development of the Android application Data Atlas, this exploration utilizes aspects of information architecture to illustrate how we as a society might come to better understand what technologies and applications record personal data and how collected information can be seen and used. The exploration also illustrates how creative technologists can contribute to societal questions on data literacy and user privacy as well as create work as a part of the quantified self movement. / Master of Fine Arts

The purpose of this study was to find out how fitness applications should be designed to help Quantified-selfers to change a behavior. This was investigated by interviewing users of the fitness-tracking application Runkeeper, and focused on users experiences, how they use it and in what way their behavior has changed. The study showed that the application had overall improved the users training behavior, but it differed in the way in which it had succeeded. The app was seen as a positive resource that allowed the users to follow and compare their results, which led to that they progressed in their training. What features the users used, which they did not use and which they wanted was individually and depended on the users desired outcome of their training. Finally, it is suggested how future wearable tech regarding fitness can be designed to help Quantified-selfers further to change a behavior. / Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur träningsapplikationer bör utformas för att hjälpa Quantified-selfers att förändra ett beteende. Detta undersöktes genom att intervjua användare av applikationen Runkeeper, där fokus låg på användarnas erfarenheter av appen, hur användningen sker och på vilket sätt deras beteende har förändrats. Det utfördes även en innehållsanalys på vad användarna själva såg för förbättringspotential i appen, genom att de gav förslag på nya funktioner. Studien visade att applikationen överlag hade förbättrat användarnas träningsbeteende, men att det skiljde sig åt på vilket sätt den hade lyckats med detta. Appen sågs som ett positivt hjälpmedel som gjorde att användarna kunde följa och jämföra sina resultat, vilket ledde till att de utvecklades i sin träning. Vilka funktioner användarna använde, vilka de inte använde och vilka de ville ha var individuellt och berodde på vad användaren ville ha ut av sin träning. Slutligen föreslås hur framtida aktivitetsmätare för Quantified-selfers kan utformas för att hjälpa användaren ytterligare mot en beteendeförändring.

What does the climate and the body have to do with each other? In some ways, they are widely different. The body is local, individual, a lived experience; the climate is global, collectively felt, and hard to observe in everyday life. In other ways, the body and the climate are inextricably linked. The ways in which we feed, dress and transport our bodies impact the climate, and the climate impacts the ways in which it is possible to feed, dress and transport our bodies. In this thesis, I aim to explore the connections between the body and the climate through two types of digital technology: web tests and apps for assessing and tracking different kinds of metrics related to the body and the climate. I use a theoretical framework centered on how the individual is presented as an arena for constant improvement, and study the interfaces through their different affordances and uses of metaphor. In my analysis, I find that these interfaces position the user as someone who can, and should, do more for both the body and the climate. They also position the user as someone in control and with the power to actually change and/or make an impact. Finally, I discuss two different ways to interpret these results. On one hand, it could be interpreted as a way to empower individuals and encourage them to act for the good of themselves and the world as a whole. On the other hand, the emphasis on individual actions may underplay the need for collective action on a systemic level. I conclude that digital technology for measuring ourselves and our behavior may offer us insights that could strengthen support for collective action, but we need to contextualize data in order to interpret it properly and act accordingly.