The diverse domains of quantified selves: self-tracking modes and dataveillance

Abstract

The concept of self-tracking has recently begun to emerge in discussions of ways in which people can record specific features of their lives, often using digital technologies, to monitor, evaluate and optimize themselves. There is evidence that the personal data that are generated by the digital surveillance of individuals (dataveillance) are now used by a range of actors and agencies in diverse contexts. This paper examines the ‘function creep’ of self-tracking by outlining five modes that have emerged: private, communal, pushed, imposed and exploited. The analysis draws upon theoretical perspectives on concepts of selfhood, citizenship, dataveillance and the global digital data economy in discussing the wider socio-cultural implications of the emergence and development of these modes of self-tracking.

Keywords:

• self-tracking
• quantified self
• digital knowledge economy
• data practices
• surveillance

Acknowledgements

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper presented at the ‘Imminent Citizenships: Personhood and Identity Politics in the Informatic Age’ workshop, 27 August 2014, ANU, Canberra, Australia, available at SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2483549. My book The quantified self: A sociology of self-tracking cultures (2016, Polity Press, Cambridge) further develops the arguments presented here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Deborah Lupton

Deborah Lupton is Centenary Research Professor in the News & Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra, Australia. Her latest books are Medicine as culture, 3rd edition (Sage, 2012), Fat (Routledge, 2013), Risk, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2013), The social worlds of the unborn (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), The unborn human (editor, Open Humanities Press, 2013), Digital sociology (Routledge, 2015) and The quanfitied self: a sociology of self-tracking cultures (Polity, 2016). Her current research interests all involve aspects of digital sociology: big data cultures, self-tracking practices, digitized pregnancy and parenting, the digital surveillance of children, 3D printing technologies, digitized academia and digital health technologies.