A half-moon on my skin: a memoir on life with an activity tracker

Elpida Prasopoulou

European Journal of Information Systems, 2017, vol. 26, issue 3, 287-297

Abstract: Experiential computing shifts the focus of IS research on how humans encounter information technologies in everyday life. For this, it invites explorations on the role of the body and its affective propulsions as the locus of human experience. I argue, in this article, that this embodied perspective, studied through the lens of enchanted materialism (Bennett in The enchantment of modern life: attachments, crossings, and ethics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001), needs to be combined with an alternative writing genre to fruitfully explore life in experiential computing. It is for this reason that I present my research as a memoir on the use of wearables – an instantiation of the Internet of Things – in everyday life. The aim is to show that, when studying emerging technologies, an open-ended non-fictional genre like the memoir can produce astute and imaginative insights that may be as informative as traditional academic writing. The memoir produces a thick description of the way people interact with digital devices in experiential computing; their expectations and the subsequent effort to entangle the data in their daily lives. This way, it problematises current organising visions of a data-driven life. I conclude the article with reflections on the contribution that enchanted materialism makes to information systems, as well as the memoir’s potential for academic research.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1057/s41303-017-0040-7

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