Self-Tracking

Small Project: Self-Tracking

Project objective
Tracking and monitoring are essential components of our existence. Particularly any form of self-tracking – be it health rated or as a hobby has become integral to our way of living. In this assignment your task will be to draw on what you have learned about self tracking and apply it to a self-tracking exercise of your interest.

Project Task

First select a self-tracking activity of your choice, that you don’t already do.

In Chapter 3 of Self-Tracking, Neff and Nafus describe types of self-tracking and provide guidance on collecting and analyzing your own data. For this short writing assignment, you will start a short, new self-tracking study on one aspect of yourself that you do not currently track.

Identify your goal (or hypothesis) and pick a (or a combination of) self-tracking type(s) from the following five categories:
• Monitoring and evaluating
• Eliciting sensations
• Aesthetic curiosity
• Debugging a problem
• Cultivating a habit

Pick a technology for tracking (paper, excel spreadsheet, application, sensors from a digital device, etc.).

For three-four days, track that aspect of yourself.

At the end of the tracking period, analyze your data.

Reflection
In your essay, address the following:
• Your broader objective and why you focused on it.
o Also articulate your quantifiable goal (or hypothesis) you follow.
• Your self-tracking type(s) and why it is a good fit to help you with your goal.
• The technology you chose and why.
o Think about how the goal shapes or is shaped by the technology of your choice.
• What your analysis or tracking activity allowed you to understand or do.
• Any social factors (friends, family) that affected what you tracked and how you tracked.
• Any institutional factors (e.g., school, medical issue) affected your tracking practice.
• The limitations of self tracking. Consider the question of whether the activity misses crucial nuances of who you are and what you are trying to achieve.

Writing requirements
• Write between 1200 words, excluding references and in-text citations.
• There must be a brief introduction and conclusion.
• You must include evidence of your self-tracking (e.g. a photo of the technology)
• You must engage and reference Self-Tracking. Define and explain the concepts you use to make your argument. Use APA citation style and include a bibliography.