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

Minna Ruckenstein
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Minna Ruckenstein: National Consumer Research Centre, P.O. Box 142, Helsinki 00531, Finland

Societies, 2014, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-17

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.

Keywords: personal analytics; visibility; self-optimization; Quantified Self; data double; data visualizations; participatory research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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