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C O N N E C T I V I T Y A N D T H E I N T E R N E T O F S E L V E S
THE QUANTIFIED SELF, SELF-TRACKING, AND THE IOT
Stine Margrethe Heyerdahl Beckholt
Master Thesis
TIK Centre for Technology, innovation and Culture Fall of 2020
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© Stine Margrethe Heyerdahl Beckholt
Connectivity and the Internet of Selves: The Quantified Self, Self-Tracking, and the IoT
Keywords: quantified self, data doubles, smartwatches, IoT, digital normal, self-knowledge
Masteroppgave, TIK Senter for Teknologi, Innovasjon og Kultur ESST – Society, Science and Technology in Europe
Samfunnsvitenskapelig Fakultet, Universitetet i Oslo
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SUMMARY
This master thesis argues how the Quantified Self Community “propagate” self-trackers that are engaging and playing with the idea of being connected to the Internet at all times. The purpose of this thesis is to elaborate on the new “digital normal” and on how people interact with wearable
technology which subliminally makes them part of the Internet of Things. By emphasizing the digital twin – a technologically “body” complementary to the physical body –and by introducing the
“Internet of Selves”, this thesis draws on concepts of connectivity, datafication, datastructuring and
“data doubles” in the task to explain several processes and practices of self-trackers whom engage with the Quantified Self Community. The study falls under an interpretive methodological tradition in aiming to contributing with conceptual descriptions of the dynamics within self-tracking practices and the development of the new digital self in the context of the Quantified Self Community.
This thesis focuses on two connected empirical objects that have developed with the digitally enhanced body and emerging socialites: The Quantified Self Community and the smartwatch. I build upon the Community and the smartwatch in my investigations to which leads the self-tracker to be spellbound by connectivity and the enrichment they may receive in becoming digitalised. Self- tracking and practices of making us more digital often happens between interactions with technological objects and others, and various systems within. The given infrastructure of the Quantified Self Community is relational and have different meaning to different people. Inquires of how self-tracking practices produces knowledge from interactions between technology and humans, as well as the social tie people attach to their wearables and to the Internet, are examined through this infrastructure. In short, this thesis examines how self-trackers of the Quantified Self Community are digitalised through their smartwatches and become a concealed part of the Internet of Things, in the sense of the digital self. Internet of Things, shortly known as IoT, is understood as a network of identifiable objects and “things” that has a possibility to connect and exchange data over Internet- access. In the process of datafication of bodies, in making bodies of blood and flesh into bodies of numbers, people can become more digital and connected, to both each other but also to the Internet at large. I argue that we create a digital twin in order to attain what we assume is a connection to each other, and that we manage our sociality through our digital twins. An era of the Internet of Selves grows forth through the Quantified Self Community and the eager of self-tracking practices becoming normalised.
Decisions to narrow down the thesis have been made through both preparations and execution, in order to attain the restricted length and concision.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank my supervisor, Susanne Bauer, for the valuable guidance in creating my thesis. I am grateful for her patience when I changed my topic and research questions several times. Moreover, I am thankful for her constructive e-mail and correspondence in a challenging time due to the global pandemic of Covid-19.
And a thanks is in place for my roommates for dealing with me through both good and challenging days of work and study.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY ... 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... 5
INTRODUCTION – WEARABLES, CONNECTIVITY, AND THE QUANTIFIED SELF ... 7
PREVIOUS DEBATES AND MY CONTRIBUTION ... 8
CONCRETISING MY RESEARCH QUESTIONS (1 & 2) ... 10
STRUCTURE ... 12
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 12
ACTOR NETWORK-THEORY ... 13
SCRIPTING AND DATAFICATION ... 14
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ... 15
METHODS AND RESPONDENTS ... 16
OFFLINE UNDERSTANDINGS ... 18
ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVES ... 19
ENLIVENED OBJECTS IN INTERACTION ... 20
ANALYSIS, REFLECTION AND DESIGN ... 21
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 21
CHAPTER I: THE QUANTIFIED SELF COMMUNITY ... 22
OPENING THE BLACK BOX ... 23
HIERARCHICAL THREADS ... 29
100 DOTS PERFORMANCE ... 32
EGG13*X EQUALS INSOMNIA ... 35
PERSONAL SCIENCE ... 38
N-OF-1 ... 41
HEALTHISM ... 42
CHAPTER 2: THE SMARTWATCH AND IOT ... 44
APPARATUS OF KNOWLEDGE ... 46
WHAT ARE THEY, REALLY? ... 48
SOCIAL PROTHESES ... 51
BIG (BODY OF) DATA ... 52
AN AUTONOMIC,“DATAFICATED” SELF ... 54
DATA DOUBLES AND NETWORKS ... 56
THAT’S THE ACCURACY I AM LOOKING FOR ... 61
AN ENTRANCE TO THE DIGITAL ... 63
THE INTERNET OF SELVES ... 65
CONCLUSIONS ... 67
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 70
WEBSITES ... 75
APPENDIX ... 77
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ... 77
FORMS AND SURVEY ... 81
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INTRODUCTION – WEARABLES, CONNECTIVITY, AND THE QUANTIFIED SELF
/, k ɒn. ek’tiv. ə. ti /, - Con.nec.tiv.i.ty.
CONNECTIVITY
(noun) a state of being connective, the ability of a computer, program, device or system to connect with one or more others (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020)
For the last years, there has been a growing interest in software and hardware that measures physical experiences and behaviour in its purpose of assessing productivity and knowledge.
The advent of pervasive devices, including smartwatches, has promised a shift in the paradigm of human behaviour and understanding of health. With this, there is a shadowing need to reopen a couple of debates surrounding people’s understanding of their bodies, alongside extending the understanding of bodily movement; the notion of the self;
technological affection on practices; behaviour; and connectivity. Digital information and communication technology (ICT) have enabled the feeling of connectedness on a vast scale, unleashing new markets and platforms for communication and information sharing. As a result, this has led to an introduction of new concepts, such as (i) the Quantified Self and (ii) the digital self. These concepts allow us to re-focus on existing concepts, such as (iii)
connectivity and (iv) the Internet of Things. As James Gilmore once said: “(…) the self’s quantification and datafication might provoke a re-experiencing of footsteps’ qualitative nature (…) (2016, p.2535). When linking our bodies and mind to technology, or conceivable uniting the entities, in becoming more dependent and determined by this connection, we are contributing to the emerging wave of “everything” becoming connected to the Internet and more digital in the sociality sense of connectivity.
Many wearable technological devices emphasize self-knowledge and control through external measurement, but the implications of implementing such systemic devices to daily life might develop as we grow more attached. A system of interrelated computing devices is infiltrating our daily practices and mundane habits of life. This system of devices connected to the world wide web has attained the grasping name of “the internet of things”, abbreviated to IoT.
Technology that is worn on or inside our bodies allow for transfer of sensitive, biological data in intangible ways, digitising us and our physical self. By connecting ourselves to the online grid through technology, I argue that human behaviour and practices are becoming a segment
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in the IoT-network. With wearable technology, self-tracking and quantification of the body and the self becomes a more relaxed mission (Lupton, 1995; 2013). Such practices might become simpler with these devices, opening up for a more passive tracking behaviour. For this thesis, two connected, empirical entities are brought forth in order to understand how self-tracking practices create a new digital self: (1) the Quantified Self Community, and (2) the smartwatch. By looking to the reasons behind why people associated with self-tracking practices are eager to stay connected, this thesis assess and analyse behaviour in the context of the Quantified Self Community (Quantified Self, 2020, a; b; c; d). My concern and contribution to the debate surrounding self-quantification and the IoT, is on self-tracking practices which lead to an implementation of technology that might make people behave more digital, and henceforth be reliable on the connectivity the technology offers. The self can become digitised in the same way as our bodies, by implementing technology, by
depending upon these technologies to tell us what to do and, further allowing the technology to take control while we sit back and observe. From this, an interrogation of the new digital normal and digital selves is needed; to understand how wearable technology make individuals part of the IoT through digitalisation of the self, one must investigate the practices these devices encourage.
PREVIOUS DEBATES AND MY CONTRIBUTION
As self-quantification by means of digital devices is a behavioural trend, the phenomenon has only recently received academic attention (Maltseva & Lutz, 2018, p.101). Although the notion of self-tracing through calculation is no new concept, the length and extent users go today and what aspects of life is measured, is however something newer (Ajana, 2017, p.3).
Rather than assuming a simple technology in which the new device simply displaces the older, digital devices reconfigure expertise and institutional circuits as well as the ways that social actors of various kinds contest their value and efficacy. Self-monitoring is nothing new, because mundane metering through manually tracking has a long history. Where
athletes recorded their activity manually for performance-reasons, and women kept track over their menstrual cycles for family-planning, it is rather with the development with the new digital, personalised and technological improvement of self-tracking tools that is opening the entry to the digital (Ajana, 2017, p.3; Maltseva & Lutz, 2018, p.103).
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Assessing “connectedness” through self-tracking practices is not a new topic in the social sciences. In the early 1990s, a literate collective called “cyborg anthropology” (Hogle, 2005) formed a linkage of anthropology, technology, and social sciences, as well as sociology of knowledge (2005, p.705). Many of the ongoing debates of datafication (Flyberbom &
Murray, 2018), the Quantified Self (Wolf & deGroot, 2020), knowledge-production (Lupton, 2014; 2016), and the relationship between body and technology (Turkle, 2012), have laid the groundwork for important future research on emerging self-tracking practices and
connectivity. Existing research and different views on the process of the digital self and further possible complications of connectivity specifically through smartwatches, are however, not in great range. Earlier studies and aims are limited when discussing the issues arising with IoT, digitised bodies, and the new digital self. I hope to open up the
understanding of how self-tracking enhances the process of creating a digital twin and becoming part of the IoT. The existing literature on self-quantification at large (see, Martin, 2012; Nafus & Sherman, 2014; Barta & Neff, 2016; Lupton, 2013; 2016; 2017; Ajana, 2017;
Ashman, Wolny & Solomon, 2017; Wolf & deGroot, 2020) focus on motivations and the sociality of self-tracking practices. Indeed, the existing debates on datafication are somewhat narrow and need to be widen and opened up (Ruckenstein & Schüll, 2017). In addition, context of engagement with self-quantification communities, and the experiences gained from this, is also mentioned in previous research but with fairly narrow perspectives. There is further no extensive literature on how self-tracking processes and the quantified body are embedded to IoT-networks through the digital self. Nor was I able to find literature
explaining the new digital normal emergence as a consequence of the practices encouraged within the Quantified Self Community. Building from this gap, digitalisation and
connectivity of people, in the sense of personal tracking experiences, lies behind my choice of topic for this thesis.
Progressing from my personal experience with a smartwatch, being an active user myself, it was a likely choice to go forth with the smartwatch as my technological object of study. I thought of my own attachment to this technology and how the technology made me feel: a feeling of presence and connectedness, in both real life and in my digital space. However, the smartwatch also made me feel regretful and disappointed, often when I could not reach the daily goal of activity, or when I overlooked a notification and fell behind on updates and communication. From this, I started searching for others experiencing the same as me. With the book by Sherry Turkle (2012) in the back of my head, searching online and asking
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acquaintances, I came across the Quantified Self Community. The Community immediately became an interesting and informative page to investigate further. Evolving from this, the notion of user intention and scripting (Akrich, 1992) as well as the aphorism from the Community “self-knowledge through numbers”, made me think of the platform as a place to digitalise self-trackers. Through my analysis and fieldwork, drawing on my empirical findings, a need for a concept to explain the connectivity and digitisation of selves through self-tracking grew. From this, I started playing with the IoT-concept, and the Internet of Selves was established in order to explain the digital life of self-trackers. This thesis aims to open up discussion of accessibility of Internet through digital devices as well as enhance the assorted ways technology affects our bodies and minds. I believe that practices, habits, and activities made quantifiable and digital through platforms and interaction, through wearable technology, and through implementation, have the potential of making people more
connected. I will elaborate and build on the concepts of datafication (Ajana, 2017; Dourish &
Gómez-Cruz, 2018) and datastructuring (Flyverbom & Murray, 2018), as well as
performativity and data-doubles (Bode & Kristensen, 2016), in order to explain how self- trackers becomes digital. In uniting the debates on connectivity with those on online
communities, I introduce the Internet of Selves as an overall concept to explain the digital self that has emerged through self-tracking.
CONCRETISING MY RESEARCH QUESTIONS (1 & 2)
In order to explain how self-trackers creates digital twins that allow for a feeling of connectivity, I draw on my collected data from the methods explained below. During the research, two questions became important in order to understand and analyse my findings: (1) how can the Quantified Self Community and the smartwatch in conjunction enhance the feeling of connectivity? (2) How does the connectivity of the self-tracker make him a subliminal part of the IoT functioning within the Internet of Selves?
Through my research, I investigated the process of making human activity into digital
quantifiable data and knowledge in novel ways, and thereby pushing the establishment of the Internet of Selves. Explorations of how self-trackers’ practices are being converted and re- valuated will be assessed within the context of the Community. Processes of making physical movement and self-tracking into digital connectedness in the IoT are investigated and
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described in this thesis. Affordances between self-trackers of the Quantified Self Community (1), and the smartwatch (2) are assessed through the world wide web within the framework of online actor network-theory. Behind my choice of combining two empirical objects – both human and nonhuman – lies an interest to elaborate on how the feeling of connectivity have several layers which need to be assessed part by part. I argue that bodily enhancement and a focus on the human body gains a place within the Community through a device that enables tracking of behaviour and activity. In combining the phenomenon of the Community with the physical smartwatch, I will show how social performance through smartwatches and
participation in online communities generates our digital self, which facilitated the creation of a new concept: The Internet of Selves.
The Community (1) is an online platform, where users and those interested in learning more about their health through self-analysis of personal numbers can interact and share
experiences. By going online and using diverse digital devices connected to the internet, data and knowledge can be created through physical movement, and thus considered useful for the individuals. Self-trackers are reviewed as the pushing factor of the new digital self, when they track their bodies through digital wearable technology connected to the Internet. To stay connected to Internet, the individual is dependent upon a device that permits this connection.
Building on this, one of the reasons for choosing two empirical entities in this thesis is to investigate the connection the self-tracker has to both technological object and digital platform. The second object, (2) the smartwatch, collects and transforms the amassed, material substances into text, figure, and diagrams to be displayed and used, shared and examined in the digital platform. Acquired through self-tracking and through inferences (e.g.
using online configurations to derive the final data), the collected data goes through a transcription and into individual analysis. This thesis lays emphasis on the smartwatch as a calculative and inscriptive tool related to concepts of performativity in the quest of pursuing the new digital self. Smartwatches may confront individuals and their attachment, or
connectivity, to the Internet, leading to a new “digital body” of data and the notion of the digital self.
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STRUCTURE
In this thesis, I use my analysis and observations to explain how interaction within the world wide web can be related to the notion of self-trackers; how the Community might substantiate the feeling of connectivity; how self-trackers converts to the digital self, and how a constant production of value might change the understanding of the self. The practices of making us more dependable to technology can be explained through self-tracking and further be complicated in a physical and mental attachment to simplify life through technology. The first chapter investigates the Quantified Self Community and the online practices of self- trackers. By broadly setting the stage of the website in order to understand the context where self-trackers interact, I move on to the reasons behind why people self-track based on
empirical findings. I also outline some motivational aspects of these tracking practices. This leads to what self-trackers of the Community refers to as “personal science” and show how certain practices are encouraged and further linked to the feeling of connectivity. Social ties, connections, and the concept of scripting (see, Akrich, 1992) is shown to be important to understand why and how participation in online communities are related to performative practices and value-creation, as well as an ongoing datafication of the body and propagation of a digital twin. The latter is investigated as making something technologically visible as a
“body” complementary to the physical body. Following the next empirical object, chapter 2 explains how devices enables and performs this mode of connection and datafication. The chosen device is the smartwatch and the chapter will assess how these devices can create big data based on self-tracking and how they allow for quantification of the body and everyday practices. To explain how smartwatches and the Community make self-trackers part of the IoT, the experience of quantification must be explained. Chapter 2 will therefore also address the Internet of Things as an ecosystem countenancing for an entry to the digital. In the
conclusion, I draw on the analysis and empirical findings in order to craft the concept of Internet of Selves. Some of the questions that developed during the writing of this thesis, are related to the ways in which data is purposed and repurposed in the feeling of connectivity.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Positioned within the research and academic field of Science and Technology Studies, with the aim of investigating the Quantified Self Community and self-trackers’ place in the IoT,
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the actor network-theory was an evident fit for this thesis. When choosing a framework to build from, one should keep in mind that this should help answer the research questions in the best way possible. Indeed, having both an online platform as well as a technological artefact as objects of study, the actor network-theory allow for on-site tracing of interaction and understanding of the correlations between self-tracking and sharing in online platforms.
ACTOR NETWORK-THEORY
Because my choice of topic shifted several times over the research period, I needed to adjust the theoretical framework to fit to purpose. My theoretical entrance is therefore based on several theoretical frameworks from STS and has a practical view on “things” and
“relations”, whilst a genuine focus on actual practices. Developed within the STS field, by scholars Michel Callon (2007) and Bruno Latour (1999) alongside sociologist John Law (1992), the actor network-theory is first and foremost an analytical and partly methodological approach to explain developments of science and technology in society. New knowledge and technology are understood to be developed as a consequence of translation between the entities in the network (see, Callon, 2007), and this development is understood as a result from interaction between entities in the same network (Law, 1992, p.381). By systematically mapping relations that are simultaneously material; between things, like the smartwatch; and semiotic, between concepts like connectivity and quantification, the theory is applicable for this topic. Within a network, where people and “things” are able to interact because they all are given agency in the framework, concerns related to self-tracking, quantification, and datafication of selves can be investigated. This builds on the notion that both human and nonhuman things act alongside each other within the same network, or context (Asdal, 2012).
Because ANT is a partly methodological theory, and because I chose to conduct online ethnography in order to assess my empirical objects, I expanded the theory in a way that works for digital spaces. The result was an online-actor network-theory. With this broadening of the original theory, this would provide concepts to understand and investigate the process of digitalisation. Furthermore, the theory also has the potential to explain the relation between the Community and the smartwatch, as actants within the same digital space. The main actors or entities to investigate in this thesis is the self-tracker of the Quantified Self Community and their tracking device of choice: the smartwatch. Together they make up an ecosystem of real-life interaction and throughout this study, investigations of this relationship are linked to
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the digital self and henceforth the IoT. The practice of attaching digital technology to the body is not inherently one-way social but can be argued to be of a more reciprocal
relationship in the self-tracker’s perspective. By actively engaging with the community, see methodology below, I potentially add empirical depth to the actor network-theory (Venturini, et.al., 2019) and the online interactions, in the ways I subjectively become part of the actual network. Because of this, the actor network was adjusted to online actor-network-theory to grasp over my personal interaction with the network.
SCRIPTING AND DATAFICATION
Actor network-theory points out how scripting of a technology relates to the process of creating context (Akrich, 1992) and the analysis of things should happen within this context, or network. In this thesis, the platform of the Quantified Self Community – the first object – functions as a context. This is because it encourages people to interact with their technology, as they are “both” active parts in an ongoing interaction in real life. However, scripting also relates to how technological objects have a given meaning or intended use, indeed,
technology like the smartwatch has an original way of use, intended by the production company. But, sometimes, the implementation process of technology makes people adjust function and use, in which leads to a de-scription, where technology is used individually, subjectively, or in another context, and with various practices.
Relying on how people exploit technology in new ways, in subjectively adjusting the use and meaning of the technology, the process of datastructuring can create new value to the
interaction and process. By investigating how the digital becomes a practice, and vice versa, through the datastructuring tool, the Community’s aphorism of gaining “self-knowledge through numbers” and the physical practice of self-tracking are becoming interlinked. From the online version of actor network-theory, the notion of datastructuring gain further agency (see, Flyverbom & Murray, 2018). This is because the digital traces from online platforms are organised in intricate ways, and in order to follow these traces there is a need for an
organising tool like datastructuring. New forms of datafied social action can create a form of knowledge production which becomes embedded in the smartwatch itself (Flyverbom &
Murray, 2018), and this process needs the organising tool to improve understanding. As the smartwatch gain agency within the network, the process of datastructuring enlightens how
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these devices configure the body and activity into visual displays and information (Loukissas, 2019). Following on this, another concept interrelated to datastructuring, is datafication (van Dijk, 2014; Ruckenstein & Schüll, 2017; Hoeyer, et.al., 2019). This concept show how social action and practices are transformed to online quantifiable data, allowing for tracking and analysis (Ruckenstein & Scüll, 2017). In the process of making the social into the digital (see, Haraway, 1991), there is a need for the power of modern theories to understand how
meanings and bodies are made in order to change life (Haraway, 1991, p.580). In order to understand this process of creating the digital twin, research that stresses the translation from social to digital, as well as the convertibility and mobility of meanings and knowledge production within such practices, is needed. Internet technologies have the power to open new platforms for communication, as well as exploiting calculating tools for analysis, which are helpful in analysing how self-tracking practices create online, digital selves. Conditions for how the numbers are transformed and converted via the smartwatch is in need for an overall concept to explain the process, here the use of datafication and “inscription device”
(Latour & Woolgar, 1986) are key to broaden this understanding. The overall research questions functioned as guides during the data collection, leading towards an analysis that was done in a way that suited this thesis. Indeed, the goal was that my findings should provide nuanced explanations, hence have potency in the arguments provided.
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
For the following section, I will describe my methodological framework for this thesis.
Rather than investigating one single actor or location, this thesis has two empirical entry points, and therefore need a framework that allows for multi-sited examinations.
Qualitative studies can be rewarding in gaining insight and in-depth understanding of a phenomenon. In order to track movements, processes, and connections, on and between actors and digital objects, digital ethnographic studies offer the correct tools to develop new forms of intervention, focusing on the relation and formation of practices. This study falls under an interpretive methodological tradition, where the goal is to contribute with
conceptual descriptions of the dynamics in the development, the practices of self-trackers, and online community, henceforth the choice of digital ethnography. Both research questions, the focus on the digital twin, and the creation of the Internet of Selves-concept, was defined
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during the process as I gained more information about the Quantified Self Community and the actors adjoining it. When it comes to how smartwatches collect data, and how self- trackers persistently measure aspects in life, in order to gain knowledge through these numbers, this thesis stresses the need for an on-site investigation of the Community. A portrayal of motivational factors behind choice of method are provided as well as a short description of respondents for the online survey-form, with emphasis on whom and why.
Followed by a description of what these methods brought to the table, as well as how, and why, I chose to combine the different methods. When exploring a social phenomenon, both online and offline methods can be used in conjunction (see, Skågeby, 2011), and for this specific case, offline and online methods are merged in order to make up a framework that has the possibility of conducting an interpretive case study. This chapter will enlighten how I completed the study, in explaining how I gathered data both online and offline. Indeed, in order to describe and understand the process of making self-trackers into digital selves and further a subliminal part of the IoT, a combination of methods was needed.
METHODS AND RESPONDENTS
In my study I have not collected data according to strictly defined theoretical frameworks, but rather used the theory as an active tool to obtain guidance through my analytical work. I have kept concepts and theories up front through the data collection and used them to help me sort the data in my analytical work. Theoretical framework and methodological and empirical work guided my work of creating conceptual explanations of the Community and the
attachment self-trackers might have to smartwatches. Based on my empirical materials, I hold a descriptive narrative on how the self-trackers of the Community gain a place in the IoT and my findings further facilitate the concept of the Internet of Selves. Through the extensive search for existing articles and research, I came across some scholars describing self-trackers as cyborgs (Haraway, 1991; Hogle, 2005), people with both technological and biological body parts, and I wanted to investigate how self-trackers who wear technology become
“addicted” to the feeling of connectivity and further how people want to stay connected;
henceforth the concept of the new digital self. As technology and people become enlivened objects in their interactions online, I argue that they create the Internet of Selves, much like the Internet of Things (IoT). To accomplish and investigate my assumptions, a multi-sited ethnographic method would be needed (Marcus, 1995; Hine, 2007). Online actor network-
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theory, combined with concepts of datafication and datastructuring, are well-suited for ethnographical investigations. During the research and data collection, in the sense of an interpretive study, the loose attachment to researcher designed are considered important and prerequisite for my ethnographic explorations. Indeed, as a fluid method, following the interaction online and participating in the practices encouraged, ethnographic observations proved rewarding. Nonetheless, to fill the anticipated gaps between reality and perceived understanding, I conducted a widespread document analysis to make sure my interpretations were trustworthy. An ethnographic approach, however, is a well-suited method to combine with online actor network-theory, where the overall focus lies in the social processes,
interactions, and transformations of knowledge between several actors, rather than with just a single “entity”.
I myself are an active user of the smartwatch, and when exploring my own subjective
understanding of the watch and what the technology provides for me, to test my assumptions that others might have the same attachment to their technology, I created an online survey- form (see appendix). This form works as additional confirmation to my assumptions,
however, it ended up providing me with more information about people’s actual practices and broaden my factual understanding. Choosing to create and complete an online survey can be profitable in an interpretive and descriptive thesis, especially in combination with online ethnography and observation. Distributed in my personal social media forums (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn), I make the supposition that the respondents for my online survey- form is mainly people I know, or at least someone in my peripheral social circle. Here, I have no information on whom answered my survey, so the choice of respondents for this thesis was merely random in my understanding. In a general sense, ethnographic studies is
qualitative in ways of data collection and such studies looks to unearth the deeper reasons for practices and behaviours online (see, Skågeby, 2011; Drotner, 2013). To gain a holistic view of the Community and the self-trackers’ use of smartwatches, by following the actors in online ethnography, and following the “thread” offline in document analysis, the combination of methods proved fruitful. Nevertheless, in doing online ethnography, and offline document analysis, while simultaneously drawing on tools from actor network-theory and datafication, I have consolidated errors in analysing the findings. Analysing and studying the process of making human movement and practice into digital data and further implementing the notion of connectivity to the playoffs, I am assertive that my choice of methods to collect data gives a good and nuanced foundation for my arguments. Processing and presentation of findings
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are made with caution, in the manner of retelling and using several resources, in order to keep the information consistent and well substantiated.
OFFLINE UNDERSTANDINGS
In making thorough explanations of the process of making self-trackers into digital beings, there is a need to look posterior, to existing documents and earlier studies on the topic.
Document collection in this thesis refers to gathering of existing textual material and statistics. An examination of studies surrounding the Quantified Self community; on datafication-processes; and connectivity, is a good way to gain knowledge and draw lines between quantifying social practices of adapting wearable technology, and the IoT. Both literature on the Quantified Self Community, self-tracking, and the smartwatch at large was assessed prior to writing this thesis. During the preparations, considerations of where to find appropriate documents that could strengthen and improve my understanding of the findings was made. By using the online library of the University of Oslo – uio.oria.no – I made searches with keywords like “quantified self”, “self-tracking”, “IoT”, “self-knowledge”, and
“digital devices”. First and foremost, I wanted to investigate others who had done ethnographic research on the Community to broaden my understanding and further help formulate my own research questions. I looked to what has been suggested as future research, and when I came across the article by Deborah Lupton (2013), I spun out of her use of
literature, and got the hold of several aspects on the topic. Building on this, I also used the curriculum of for the master program (subjects like TIK4001 and TIK4011), and further looked back into my own notes written during lectures and seminars. The documents I found online, however, helps me make sense of my findings, because some underline while others dismisses ethnographic understanding. The latter could be more beneficial, because what is observed and what is written about the phenomenon, is not always in conjuncture. In combining literature that 1) uses ethnographic and livened methods, with 2) descriptive and analytical texts, this proved beneficial in explaining my own findings. The literature
explaining how smartwatches work (descriptive) and what the IoT consists of, indeed, what the Quantified Self Community brings to the table (enlivened aspects), and how these
phenomenon’s are constructed in order to create new, digital twins for people who self-track, approved of an interpretive methodological thesis.
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ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVES
What is online ethnography, and how can this method be fruitful in order to gather enough variety from the online Community, in order to draw conclusions and create arguments?
Tools and methods within ethnographic studies allow researchers to describe and
systematically analyse the personal experiences as well as the overall cultural experiences in the field of study (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011; Pink, et.al., 2016). Both the smartwatch and the self-trackers are acting entities to be analyse and interpreted, and by looking to the process by which inert objects are enlivened in a given context, the interaction and mutual dependency between self-trackers and smartwatches that I pose in this thesis can be an interesting turn. Ethnographic research consists of several dimensions, both digital and practical (Marucs, 1995; Drotner, 2013). These dimensions are intertwined, hence a need to investigate the process in both the digital sphere as well as in real life (Pink, etl.al., 2016).
From my online ethnography, I did what is called a “participatory observation”, which is an anthropological term referring to the researcher taking an active part in understanding the practices and doings of a culture or community. Ethnography provides narratives, as well as tools to trace the spread of ideas, expressions, behaviours and practices of people. Such narratives allow the researcher to think through how something is organised within the specific context (Dourish & Gómez-Cruz, 2018, p.5) and combined with actively engaging with the object of study, bias and errors can be avoided (see, Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011).
In this context – the Quantified Self Community – ethnographic tools allowed me to gain in- depth understanding of how self-tracking in real life becomes the individual’s digital twin through smartwatches, and further how the Community encourages these processes. Because online ethnographic observations see everything as strange or unique without imposing any deductive structure, the outcome might be more objective. During the ethnographic research, I looked for connections, abnormal practices, disconnections, and repetitive practices. In this case, the fieldnotes made during this period proved to be rewarding in analysing the final findings because what was found to be “normal” practices, was studied as “abnormal”.
Aiming to gain first-hand knowledge on the interplay between self-trackers, the smartwatch and the Community, I provide in this thesis a conceptual description of this interaction. I wanted to learn which behavioural factors contribute to why people self-track, and to learn how the Community pushes these practices making people engage in the vast crater of IoT.
The overall goal is to explain the process of becoming part of the Internet of Selves, and a thick description is provided in the discussions (see, Geertz, 1993). The purpose of a thick
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description is facilitating the understanding of the “insiders” – the self-trackers – and the results are relying on cultural (social) patterns within the Community. Such patters can be repeated narratives, happenings, and concepts, and as evidenced by my fieldwork, and supported by document analysis, these patterns present insider-information about meanings, valuation-processes, and consumption and adaptation of practices by the self-trackers (Lupton, 2016; Ajana, 2017; Dehghani, 2018, p.147). In addition to describe the culture within the Community, a short description of the setting is given, a declaration of knowledge of the Community which aims to simplify the contextualisation of the findings.
ENLIVENED OBJECTS IN INTERACTION
Objects like the smartwatch and people’s dependency upon these devices, might relate to how certain object come to “life” within a given setting, when given status as an active part of the interaction (Dourish & Gómez-Cruz, 2018, p.5). Within ethnographic studies, a practice which renders to be useful is the attentiveness to how objects are enlivened. Digital selves and the new digital normal is notions located within the implementation of digital devices, adaptations and dependency to such enlivened devices, and how the practices are in rapid growth in society. Proceeding from the recognition that people make appeal to, and explain how, the significance and value of having things come “alive” during ethnographic research, this sets out to unpack those practices by which meanings are produced and later understood (see, for instance: Hine, 2007). The enlivening of data, in giving technological objects a
“body” and a “life”, the process creates new datasets that are mobilised in, and through, narratives in which falls squarely within the standard procedure of ethnography (Hine, 2007).
Such narratives have the potential to explain how self-trackers’ data can be embraced (see, Amelang & Bauer, 2014), and used within the Community in order to create a new digital self. Interactions between platform (the Community) and the self-tracker which leads to a feeling of connectivity and further to how the new digital self becomes a testimony. To substantiate this expression, the analysis of existing documents came in handy, because either as supporting or as adversity, they gave depth to the assumptions in this thesis. With this in mind, the chapter with discussion and findings is written as an overall, enlivened explanation of the process in making self-trackers into digital beings.
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ANALYSIS, REFLECTION AND DESIGN
Within the tradition of STS, the analytical work and analysis for this thesis is considered part of the methodology (Asdal, 2012). When writing out my analysis, I was conveyed the
empirical narrative in a way that both encouraged and was made understandable for the reader. I have chosen to include various parts from my empirical findings in order to give the reader an insight to findings, because the results from the ethnographic research play a particular important role in this descriptive thesis. Pictures, graphs and tables are provided in order to elaborate on the findings. Whilst analysing and studying how the process of making self-trackers’ practice into digital data, this thesis argues how self-tracking make people dependent on Internet-connection and create what I introduce as the Internet of Selves. I am assertive that my choice of methods to lean on and theoretical framework to build from, is a good foundation in providing a nuanced and descriptive thesis.
My research and findings are situated, grounding in the empirical findings. I wanted to combine an ethnographic, interpretive case-study with document analysis to avoid the gap between what is said and what is being done in practice, because my study aims to explain these social practices rather than objectifying them. Insights and knowledge attained during the research made me gain more knowledge about the practices and phenomenon of the self- trackers, which I could not have deducted from text only. Normally, the interpretation and analysis of data will happen continuously through the data collection, where the researcher aims to categorize, sort out and develop concepts and connect data to existing theory throughout the whole research process. For an interpretive ethnographical case-study, I however went through three “phases”, in 1) fieldwork, 2) interpretation, and 3) writing out my findings. The three phases did not happen in chronological order, but rather overlapped.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The following section provides an analysis and discussion of the findings from (I) the Quantified Self Community, and (II) the smartwatch as chosen tracking device. The
following two chapters connect ethnographical findings with document analysis in order to hoard the thread between textual explanations and actual practice. First, the Community is discussed in order to gain an understanding of the context in which self-trackers and
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smartwatches are interacting. Further, by looking to motivational factors, the results are presented with examples of the variety of practices that allow self-trackers to create digital selves and henceforth merges them into the IoT. Secondly, the smartwatch is assessed in detail, drawing on the actual purposes and functions, and further how such devices allow for monitoring and digitalisation of the self. Findings from the ethnographic explorations and the online survey-form will be comprised, drawing from the most relevant – for this thesis – questions and answers. Comparisons of findings are provided throughout these chapters. So, how can the Quantified Self Community and the smartwatch in conjunction enhance the feeling of connectivity, and how do they make self-trackers a subliminal part of the IoT as the Internet of Selves?
CHAPTER I: THE QUANTIFIED SELF COMMUNITY
Within the world of self-tracking practices, one online community stands out as a
widespread, global platform for engaging with, and learning from, technology. Indeed, the Quantified Self Community (Quantified Self, 2020, a) is a movement which encourage its members to self-track and gain self-knowledge through their collected data. Those aspiring to learn about their health and bodies with the helping hand of technology are more than
welcome to sign up to the free Community. This chapter will open up the box of the
Community and discuss what the Community fronts and investigate the escalating interest of measuring everything in daily life, allowing and accepting the dependency to digital
technology and henceforth the notion of making bodies digital (Ajana, 2017; Wolf &
deGroot, 2020).
As a versatile, multipurposed, and flexible site, the Community of the Quantified Self allow for self-trackers all around the world to connect and share experiences. In 2008, the
Quantified Self was created with Gary Isaac Wolf at the forefront (Quantified Self, 2020, a;
b) with the vision of personal development through quantifying the body. Behind every turn on the Quantified Self community, there is extensive evidence of datafication (Ruckenstein &
Schüll, 2017). Self-trackers of the Community spend a lot of time being part of, implementing, and developing content both online in the forum as well as in private.
Implementation of technology on or inside the body allow for easier dependency to Internet as well as the functions the technology offer. The conversion of making qualitative aspects of
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life and bodies into quantified data is becoming more and more an individual practice. Where the majority of health data in the past lied with governmental agencies and health insurance companies (Ruckenstein & Schüll, 2017, p. 263), the ecosystem of health data has expanded to include novel types of data and making use of this data which lies with the individual himself. Indeed, combining the view on datastructuring with the concept of connectivity, self- tracking makes people more digital, more relying on the Internet and their technology, and less independent.
The Community is an international online collective for people eager to monitor and measure their bodies and learn more about their health through these practices. Devices and data used to self-track contribute to ways of seeing the self and shaping self-understanding and self- expression. With an organizational structure as a platform, the Community is a sociotechnical arrangement that includes the technical, architectural, and computational choices made to support social networks, platforms of “opportunity”, and platform “from which to speak”
(Barta & Neff, 2016, p.522). By going online and using diverse digital devices connected to the Internet, data and knowledge can be created through physical movement (Lupton, 2013;
Ajana, 2017) and thus considered useful for the individual. This might suggest a vision of technology that in its concrete materiality influences not only selves, bodies and socialites, but also communication and learning. The Community, and the interlinked forum (Quantified Self, 2020, c), is a place for the self-trackers aiming to understand their bodies, both
analysing motivations, opening up critical perspectives, and gaining knowledge. Those aiming to become digital (Ajana, 2017), through measurement of physical bodies, can assemble and meet equals in the Forum-site of the Community. The bottom-line of the Community can be summed up with one sentence: “the Quantified Self supports every
person’s right and ability to learn from their own data. Committed to accuracy, independence, inclusiveness, and transparency” (Quantified Self, 2020, b). Such statement proved to be consistent throughout the website and forum-threads.
OPENING THE BLACK BOX
Since its initiation in 2008, the online community has facilitated forums and meet-ups while building on the idea that members are linked together in a mutual network by common interests in insights about their health through quantification and analysis and valuation of
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self-tracked data (Nafus & Sherman, 2014; Barta & Neff, 2016; Ruckenstein & Schüll, 2017). The Community is a non-institutional movement, allowing everyone to participate on their own, individual terms, accepting and acknowledging whatever reason, practice and result. Openness, acceptance and sharing practices are encouraged, almost required. Where networking and online interaction plays a vital part in wearable technology being
implemented and consumer behaviour analyses are beneficial, communities like the Quantified Self grows – both in the shadows as well as promptly in the light. In brief,
“quantification” of “something” explains the calculating practice of making numbers
“comprehend objects and events” (Porter, 2017, p.700). Traditionally, the term was related to science and economy, but it has also gained a significant place in the social sciences when it comes to human use of the social-natural environment, thus calculative behaviour and practice. During the blow-out and development of mundane uses of technological objects to calculate bodies and digitise activity, practices of quantification has brought with various issues in society. For instance, questions surrounding surveillance, privacy, and new health hitches grew alongside the technological development and implementation. With new technology development towards more wearable tech, vies of self-control and self- surveillance emerge in the sociality-technology-sphere (Ajana, 2017; Maltseva & Lutz, 2018). Furthermore, devices made to calculate and measure human activity, i.e. the smartwatch, makes it possible to digitise humans in high-definition and granular detail, allowing for people to enter the IoT-network with their “new” bodies (Ajana, 2017; Nord, et.al. 2019).
The Community, and an escalating interest for self-tracking, has become a focus of academic research in the cultural effects of new technology (see, for instance: Nafus & Sherman, 2014;
Till, 2014; Barta & Neff, 2016; Lupton, 2016; 2017; Ajana, 2017; Ashman, Wolny &
Solomon, 2017; Maltseva & Lutz, 2018). Self-trackers and those actively engaging with the Community work with technological artifacts, whether in the form of digital devices such as the smartwatch or personal data collected in other, various ways (i.e. journals, tables, and other technology). These practices mediate or modify the presence of the individual in both perception, behaviour and decision making as well as understanding and epistemology (see for instance: Kristensen & Ruckenstein, 2018). Calculating movement and tracking footsteps, caloric intake, activity, and in giving the collected numbers a value through interaction and sharing, is practices said to be the key notion in the Quantified Self Community (Quantified
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Self, 2020, a). The urge to make value of bodily numbers might enhance people’s need for the worn technology to maintain this calculative behaviour.
Within communities and platforms, like the Quantified Self, there is often imperatives to look to in order to open up and improve understanding. In this Community, three questions are principal for further examination; “what did you do?”, “how did you do it?”, and “what did you learn from it?”. A great thing to learn from this, is that no one is excluded from asking these questions. Whether you are a top athlete, a student, an enthusiastic thirty-year-old or a patient with health issues, self-examination is open to everyone (de Groot, 2016, p.6). One of the Community’s best features is its openness, alongside the encouragement to self-track for everyone and its non-excluding practices. This openness allows for an “un-boxing” of some mysteries within the Community. Indeed, as already observed and assessed in the discipline of STS, standards in infrastructure might bear the risk of “black boxing” their fundamental parameters and guidelines, while at the same time cause an increase in the “naturalising”
process of data, through scientific authorisation and capacities. Infrastructure is relational and have different meaning to different people, they are part of the balance between actors, tools and environment – or context, platform, or site – and to understand infrastructures, one need to see the design within, as both transparent and obscure (Star, 1999). In information
infrastructure, as the Community, every conceivable form of variation in practice (actions), culture (community), and norm (social rules) is inscribed in the various levels of the
infrastructure’ design. Some of the levels involving various practices and norms are malleable, changeable or programmable (Star, 1999; Gilmore, 2016). As argued by Abend and Fuchs in their article from 2016, technology has the power to “freeze” inscriptions, knowledges, and actions inside the black boxes, where they can then become invisible or intangible, and further empowered as something “unknown” in ways part of the network (2016, p.14). A black box further can relate to a device, system, or an object which can be understood through its inputs (tracking data) and outputs (displaying the data) within a given space, but without the need of knowledge to its internal workings. However, when opening the black box of the Community, one can access the vague or closed systems within, to broaden understanding of which practices and behaviours are encouraged and implemented into life and to the self. In the same way that the value of the self can become digital, it is argued to be defined by how useful the generated data are, and the quantification of the self produces people and internal subjectivities in a way that aims to control people’s lives (Charitsis, 2016, p.52). Some literature on self-regulation and controlling behaviour
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interlinked to self-tracking has been examined earlier (see, Ashburn, Wolny & Solomon, 2017). Such research focuses on how individuals set their goals, tracks the progress toward attaining these goals, and the reactions to anticipated as well as surprising setbacks and success along the way. Technology progresses the aid, or disruption of, these practices and behaviours, dependable on the exact point of view of the researcher himself (2017, p.212). It seems only reasonable to claim that technology therefore might revolutionize many self- regulation processes, hence the notion of control in self-tracking and -monitoring.
Technology tracks progress even when the user is not aware of its presence, and often the progress and information is shared with others automatically or by choice. By using self- tracking devices, people are encouraged to think about their bodies through numbers, in which creates a “knowledge through numbers” aphorism; that self-knowledge, accomplished through self-tracking via digital devices and the production of numbers, might be worthy goal for users to aspire to (Gilmore, 2016; Leonelli, Rappert & Davies, 2017).
Self-tracking and practices of making us more digital often happens between interactions with technological objects and others. Various systems within communities and platforms is often constructed in a specific form, and have a given infrastructure. When studying the infrastructure of websites and forums online that is involved with the quantified self, it can pose a challenge, because of the depth of how the several layers might implicate something, and then when “opened”, it can reveal “something" else. Layers of infrastructure refer to a multitude of information, whereas this information requires back-and-forth analysis to be understood. Most of the ethnographic study of websites and sharing-pages, forums and blogs, implicitly involves the study of infrastructure (Star, 1999; Vertesi, et.al., 2019) and this thesis is no exception. When one investigates such systems, many parts of the system will remain invisible until the ethnographer reaches the holistic understanding of the different levels.
While one may have access to common rules for digital platforms, one could lack the more general overview of information creation through the practices of quantifying human movement through the digital devices. To fill this gap of analysis, Flyverbom and Murray (2018) gave us the conceptualization of how digital traces are organised, recognised, and visualised across a wide range of spaces in the notion of “datastructuring”. Various posts and forum-threads online seem to always be connected somehow. And “hoarding the thread” is meant to show how the assorted threads online seems to be connected somehow. Some of the threads considered making “value” and what “value” should be for the individual tracker, where findings from the online community ethnography is related to deriving value from the
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datasets, and many posts including the word “value” involved making sense of the numbers so that value could be extracted from it. One specific phrase that was interesting, said something about the Quantified Self Community being something more than just a forum:
“QS can be recognized as a form of treatment instead of considering it as just an experimental method” (Quantified Self, 2020, b). What the intention was here, was how sharing and
contributing to the online community could be understood as a form of self-awareness
“treatment”; meaning that the individual will gain more knowledge and awareness of his own health and life through sharing and contributing to the discussions and threads online. This phrase brings forward a focus on the benefits of self-monitoring, however, others argued against, saying that the concept of “treatment” through self-tracking is not something general, but instead unique to each and every one. Value is subjective and comes from making sense of one’s individual data, not necessarily form the practices of sharing it. Indeed, when a member of the community share his or hers experience and sensitive information, it is not for others to validate as the “right information”, but rather for them in collective to make sense of, and with, the data, in new ways that the original poster perhaps was unaware of
(Kristensen &. Ruckenstein, 2018). Togetherness and openness are central in the Community, and members seem to be aware of these two building-blocks when posting and commenting in threads.
Where some has studied the benefits of gaining health-information and useful health outcomes through self-tracking (Palm, et.al., 2013; Lunney, Cunningham & Eastin, 2016;
Lupton, 2017), Almaki, Gray and Sanchez (2015) rather looked to how using self-
quantification data posed challenges in the terms of managing and reflecting on these data (2015, p.3). Nafus and Sherman (2014) did ethnographic studies of the Quantified Self movement in person and attended one of their local meetings (p.1784). What they found, during their research both online and by meeting with people in person, was that the community attracts the most “hungrily panoptical of the data aggregation businesses” in addition to self-tracking people who have created their own means of self-science (2014, p.1784). Their findings, in short, showed that self-trackers have a relationship to their data as something that is found both inside and outside their body (p.1792). In other words, self- tracking practices of members of the Quantified Self movement establishes a different view on “health” than “normal” people, whom not track everything inside and outside their body.
Tracking the “insides” is referred to as blood pressure and heart rate; and “outsides” are activity and exercise. Whereas Pols, Willems and Aanestad (2019) looked to the shaping of
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selves through quantification (p.99), to understand how self-tracking devices might discipline people into the regimes of the technology there are using, drawing a parallel to Madeleine Akrich (1992) and her concept of scripting. Plus, another distinctive feature about self- tracking practices in the research surrounding the Community, is presented by Maltseva and Lutz (2018). They test the relationship among personality traits of self-trackers and their understanding of self-disclosure (p.102). Maltseva and Lutz highlight that individuals who habitually use self-tracking applications and wearables are more likely to disclose personal data in other contexts.
Digital devices for tracking and making footsteps and sleep into data (Gilmore, 2018), and the process of quantifying something that in the first place is considered “not quantifiable”, such as actions and practices, is highly dependent on the user himself. As the user brings the device into more of the everyday movement and practices, this can provide a more holistic picture of the user (Gilmore, 2016; Lupton, 2017; Ashman, Wolny & Solomon, 2017). The product, the output, become the user’s personal logbook, which might be more valuable as a way of tracking progress the more entries are made. In other words, the more habitual the use of smartwatches are, the more accurate information will be gained. Data is most valuable, then, when it is habitualised in everyday use (Gilmore, 2016, p.2533) and thus as “accurate as possible”. Digitisation and connectivity are at the core of quantified selves and the QS
ideology, and the process of turning measurement data into discrete numbers and the pervasiveness of communication technology are made available through digital technology (Ajana, 2017, p.7). Within the Quantified Self community, the self is considered in a double sense, both subject of and as subject to, meaning the self-trackers leans towards a self- objectification (Nafus & Sherman, 2014, p.1792). However, as argued by Abend and Fuchs (2016), amongst others, quantification or objectification (e.g. digitalisation) of bodily movement and tracking activity has historically been done manually, aspiring to the same goals as the digital (2016, p.7; Ajana, 2017, p.3; Maltseva & Lutz, 2018, p.103). Within the Community, knowledge is gained “unseen”, and sometimes unnoticed. Members of the Community posted questions, answers, thoughts and experiences, sometimes without any interaction with other members, sometimes with over 50+ replies. Several members reply to postings, or give a “like”, and then later conducts the same research on their own body, using the same or similar tools, devices, and platforms to present their findings. Knowledge is gained in the hidden areas, drawing inspiration from the posting and the other members before fulfilling the practice themselves. Implicit practices then rather refer to the sharing
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behaviour made by members in the Community, opening up the black box. The practices are something happening sporadically. Indeed, the tracking, analysis and sharing found place whenever the members wore their wearable devices, meaning the collecting data happened in an intangible, more unspoken way, but the end-product was shared openly, directly and very much tangible.
HIERARCHICAL THREADS
What is a forum? And, what is a forum-thread? Undeniably, questions with a variety of answers. In this segment, I will describe the “stage” of the Quantified Self Community is like, with focussing on some content of significance.
The Community consists of a debate forum which is hierarchical in structure. Within the different topics on the forum, each new thread, discussion-post, and statement, can be replied to by as many people as so wish, but before a new thread is created, the self-tracker needs to sign up with e-mail, and further wait for the creators or editors to accept the post. As a hierarchical forum, several actors take part, but by signing up, the more activity registered online gives credit and more seniority. Both creators and content-designers amongst other
“regular” members comment, reply and post in the forum, side by side, but the two first roles have more editing power on the site. Posts in the forum has time- and date-stamps, “most replies”, and “most viewed”, clearly put in a menu bar on the right-hand side. This allow for easy navigation between the many posts. A blog, a forum, and a news-page are available from the front-page of the Community, whereas the latter and the first is more tree-like in structure. Only the creators of the site are able to publish new content on the blog and the news-page, but anyone signing up to an account can post in the forum and create new threads and debates. The network is mostly used to exchange information and experiences with tracking technology for body- and activity measurement, and intentionally, the site is non- commercial. Both the forum, blog and the site at large are free of marketing, and the design is further simplistic in its design. An overview menu is available at all sites, allowing for easy- going navigation. When entering the website for the first time, what is shown at the front- page (“home”) is an overview, a menu-bar, the logo of the Quantified Self, and last posts from the attached blog. This simple, yet complementary first impression gives a hint to how the site is professional run, not just for amateurs or “hobbyists”. The seriousness of the site