Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers

Katharina Spiel; Fares Kayali; Louise  Horvath; M Penkler; Sabine Harrer; Miguel Sicart; Jessica Hammer

doi:10.1145/3170427.3188401

Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers

Katharina Spiel
, Fares Kayali
, Louise Horvath
, M Penkler
, Sabine Harrer
, Miguel Sicart
, Jessica Hammer

Publications: Contribution to book › Contribution to proceedings › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Fitness trackers promise a longer and better life for the people who engage with them. What is forgotten in their analysis for HCI, though, is how they re-conceptualise the very notion of what constitutes a 'step'. We discuss everyday edge cases illustrating how fitness trackers fail to address goals and ideals of people using them. They merely re-affirm the fitness of already fit people and can have an adversarial effect on others. For future designers, we offer strategies to become aware of their own biases and provide implications for designers potentially leading to more non-normative and diverse designs of trackers.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI EA '18 Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publication	Engage with CHI
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	ACM
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-4503-5621-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188401
Publication status	Published - 2018
Externally published	Yes
Event	36th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing System - Montreal, Canada Duration: 21 Apr 2018 → 26 Apr 2018 Conference number: 2018 https://chi2018.acm.org

Conference

Conference	36th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing System
Abbreviated title	CHI
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Montreal
Period	21/04/18 → 26/04/18
Internet address	https://chi2018.acm.org

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

102013 Human-computer interaction

Keywords

Essay
Fitness
Health
Normativity
Re-Ontologisation
Self-Tracking

Access to Document

10.1145/3170427.3188401

Cite this

@inproceedings{012f653f23274a118090aef03e578f3f,

title = "Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers",

abstract = "Fitness trackers promise a longer and better life for the people who engage with them. What is forgotten in their analysis for HCI, though, is how they re-conceptualise the very notion of what constitutes a 'step'. We discuss everyday edge cases illustrating how fitness trackers fail to address goals and ideals of people using them. They merely re-affirm the fitness of already fit people and can have an adversarial effect on others. For future designers, we offer strategies to become aware of their own biases and provide implications for designers potentially leading to more non-normative and diverse designs of trackers.",

keywords = "Essay, Fitness, Health, Normativity, Re-Ontologisation, Self-Tracking",

author = "Katharina Spiel and Fares Kayali and Louise Horvath and M Penkler and Sabine Harrer and Miguel Sicart and Jessica Hammer",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).; 36th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing System, CHI ; Conference date: 21-04-2018 Through 26-04-2018",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1145/3170427.3188401",

language = "English",

booktitle = "CHI EA '18 Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "ACM",

url = "https://chi2018.acm.org",

}

Spiel, K, Kayali, F, Horvath, L, Penkler, M, Harrer, S, Sicart, M & Hammer, J 2018, Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers. in CHI EA '18 Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Engage with CHI., alt08, ACM, New York, 36th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing System, Montreal, Canada, 21/04/18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188401

TY - GEN

T1 - Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers

AU - Spiel, Katharina

AU - Kayali, Fares

AU - Horvath, Louise

AU - Penkler, M

AU - Harrer, Sabine

AU - Sicart, Miguel

AU - Hammer, Jessica

N1 - Conference code: 2018

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Fitness trackers promise a longer and better life for the people who engage with them. What is forgotten in their analysis for HCI, though, is how they re-conceptualise the very notion of what constitutes a 'step'. We discuss everyday edge cases illustrating how fitness trackers fail to address goals and ideals of people using them. They merely re-affirm the fitness of already fit people and can have an adversarial effect on others. For future designers, we offer strategies to become aware of their own biases and provide implications for designers potentially leading to more non-normative and diverse designs of trackers.

AB - Fitness trackers promise a longer and better life for the people who engage with them. What is forgotten in their analysis for HCI, though, is how they re-conceptualise the very notion of what constitutes a 'step'. We discuss everyday edge cases illustrating how fitness trackers fail to address goals and ideals of people using them. They merely re-affirm the fitness of already fit people and can have an adversarial effect on others. For future designers, we offer strategies to become aware of their own biases and provide implications for designers potentially leading to more non-normative and diverse designs of trackers.

KW - Essay

KW - Fitness

KW - Health

KW - Normativity

KW - Re-Ontologisation

KW - Self-Tracking

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85052022176

U2 - 10.1145/3170427.3188401

DO - 10.1145/3170427.3188401

M3 - Contribution to proceedings

BT - CHI EA '18 Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - ACM

CY - New York

T2 - 36th Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing System

Y2 - 21 April 2018 through 26 April 2018

ER -

Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this