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Living the metrics: Self-tracking and situated objectivity
Mika Pantzar1, Minna Ruckenstein1
1Consumer Society Research Centre, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Digital Health
|June 27, 2018
Summary
Self-tracking practices transform personal data into subjective health theories. This research introduces "situated objectivity" to understand how individuals interpret physiological measurements in daily life.
Area of Science:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Sociology of Health & Illness
- Personalized Health Technologies
Background:
- Self-tracking relies on personal data, particularly physiological stress and recovery measurements.
- Existing notions of 'mechanical objectivity' struggle to account for subjective interpretations of this data.
- Individuals often align physiological data with personal expectations and lived experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate self-tracking practices through the lens of objectivity.
- To explore how individuals engage with and interpret their personal physiological data.
- To introduce and develop the concept of 'situated objectivity' for understanding everyday data encounters.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis departing from 'mechanical objectivity'.
- Exploration of confrontations with personal data, focusing on physiological measurements.
- Development of the 'situated objectivity' framework to analyze interpretation, reflection, and ambiguity in everyday data engagement.
Main Results:
- Mechanical objectivity is insufficient for understanding how people use physiological data.
- 'Situated objectivity' highlights everyday interpretation, reflection, and ambiguity in personal data engagement.
- Self-tracking involves translating and transforming life experiences, not just recording facts, using data eclectically.
Conclusions:
- Self-tracking practices are more about personalized meaning-making than objective fact-finding.
- Measurement devices become raw material for crafting individual health and life theories.
- Self-tracking's value lies in experimentation, learning, and promoting communicative processes that can reshape health knowledge and promotion.
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