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Master thesis
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Date
2019-12Metadata
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- Design [228]
Description
We have more ways to see data about ourselves than ever before. Self-tracking products can now tell us how we’ve slept, how productive we’ve been, how much we’ve exercised and much more. What have we been choosing to measure? What does what we measure say about what we value? In this project, I explore the values embedded in our seemingly neutral self-tracking tools. Drawing from a mix of design research methods and academic discourse, I articulate a list of values or biases that underlie existing products. I find that these values, which center around individual health and optimization, ignore the community and contribute to a culture of self-perfectibility. In order to surface and challenge these values, I develop an oppositional list of values and develop discursive design concepts aimed at materializing them. Through this project, I want to encourage a greater plurality of self-tracking devices, and engage other designers, makers and product developers in conversations on being critical of and intentional about the values that are embedded in our work.