IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v4y2014i1p68-84d33009.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Visualized and Interacted Life: Personal Analytics and Engagements with Data Doubles

Author

Listed:
  • Minna Ruckenstein

    (National Consumer Research Centre, P.O. Box 142, Helsinki 00531, Finland)

Abstract

A field of personal analytics has emerged around self-monitoring practices, which includes the visualization and interpretation of the data produced. This paper explores personal analytics from the perspective of self-optimization, arguing that the ways in which people confront and engage with visualized personal data are as significant as the technology itself. The paper leans on the concept of the “data double”: the conversion of human bodies and minds into data flows that can be figuratively reassembled for the purposes of personal reflection and interaction. Based on an empirical study focusing on heart-rate variability measurement, the discussion underlines that a distanced theorizing of personal analytics is not sufficient if one wants to capture affective encounters between humans and their data doubles. Research outcomes suggest that these explanations can produce permanence and stability while also profoundly changing ways in which people reflect on themselves, on others and on their daily lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Minna Ruckenstein, 2014. "Visualized and Interacted Life: Personal Analytics and Engagements with Data Doubles," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:68-84:d:33009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/4/1/68/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/4/1/68/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Baki Cakici & Pedro Sanches, 2014. "Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Adonteng-Kissi, Obed & Adonteng-Kissi, Barbara & Kamal Jibril, Mohammed & Osei, Samuel Kwesi, 2019. "Communal Conflict Versus Education: Experiences of Stakeholders in Ghana’s Bawku Conflict," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 68-79.
    3. Chris Till, 2014. "Exercise as Labour: Quantified Self and the Transformation of Exercise into Labour," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Evgeniya G. Nim, 2019. "Digital Self-Tracking Among Russian Students: Practices And Discourses," HSE Working papers WP BRP 91/SOC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    5. Michael Mutz & Johannes Müller & Anne K. Reimers, 2021. "Use of Digital Media for Home-Based Sports Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the German SPOVID Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Emma Rich & Andy Miah, 2014. "Understanding Digital Health as Public Pedagogy: A Critical Framework," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Enric Senabre Hidalgo & Mad P. Ball & Morgane Opoix & Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, 2022. "Shared motivations, goals and values in the practice of personal science: a community perspective on self-tracking for empirical knowledge," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Deborah Lupton, 2014. "Apps as Artefacts: Towards a Critical Perspective on Mobile Health and Medical Apps," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Adonteng-Kissi, Obed, 2018. "Causes of child labour: Perceptions of rural and urban parents in Ghana," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 55-65.
    10. Petrakaki, Dimitra & Hilberg, Eva & Waring, Justin, 2018. "Between empowerment and self-discipline: Governing patients' conduct through technological self-care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 146-153.
    11. Nikayin, Fatemeh & Heikkilä, Marikka & de Reuver, Mark & Solaimani, Sam, 2014. "Workplace primary prevention programmes enabled by information and communication technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 326-332.
    12. Lane Peterson Fronczek & Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott, 2022. "From self‐quantification to self‐objectification? Framework and research agenda on consequences for well‐being," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1356-1374, September.
    13. Margaret Machniak Sommervold & Maja Van der Velden, 2017. "Visions of Illness, Disease, and Sickness in Mobile Health Applications," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, October.
    14. Rich, Emma & Lupton, Deborah, 2022. "Rethinking digital biopedagogies: How sociomaterial relations shape English secondary students' digital health practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:68-84:d:33009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.