Paper short abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss how we theoretically can capture processes of the self in practices of self-tracking. The focus is on the tension between being "in control" and an embodied feeling of being "in contact with oneself".

Paper long abstract

This paper will discuss how self trackers think and communicate through data output. The paper takes point of departure in self-tracking among fitness users. More specifically the paper will explores the concrete processes through which given subjects mediate their "potential" self through data practices . The paper furthermore focuses on the role of "data mediators", data coaches and personal trainers that use data visualization to communicate and keep track of their clients.

Many self-trackers focus on data as instrumental at the beginning of their self-tracking seeking a specific goal, for instance to lose weight, running at a certain speed etc. In many cases self-trackers acknowledge that quantification and goal-setting can provide visibility of certain aspect of the self, and by so doing can provide a frame for action. As a consequence however other central aspects of human life are hidden - they become invisible. Seeing and interacting with data consequently becomes a starting point for reflecting upon human value through reflecting on visibility and invisibility in data output. In this context a tension might also emerge between self tracking and bodily experiences - this is articulated as a tension between being "in control" through focusing on data output and an embodied feeling of being "in contact with one-self".