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

Katta Spiel; Fares Kayali; Louise Horvath; Michael Penkler; Sabine Harrer; Miguel Angel Sicart; Jessica Hammer

doi:10.1145/3170427.3188401

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

Katta Spiel, Fares Kayali, Louise Horvath, Michael Penkler, Sabine Harrer, Miguel Angel Sicart, Jessica Hammer

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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'18 Extended Abtracts
Number of pages	10
Place of Publication	New York, NY, USA
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication date	2018
Article number	Paper alt08
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-4503-5621-3/18/04
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188401
Publication status	Published - 2018
Event	CHI '18 CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems : Engage with CHI - Montreal, Montreal, Canada Duration: 21 Apr 2018 → 26 Apr 2018 https://chi2018.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	CHI '18 CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Location	Montreal
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Montreal
Period	21/04/2018 → 26/04/2018
Internet address	https://chi2018.acm.org/

Keywords

Fitness Trackers
Human-Computer Interaction
Step Re-conceptualization
Design Bias
Inclusive Design

Access to Document

10.1145/3170427.3188401

altchi_Fitness__PreprintAccepted author manuscript, 387 KB

Cite this

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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 = "Fitness Trackers, Human-Computer Interaction, Step Re-conceptualization, Design Bias, Inclusive Design, Fitness Trackers, Human-Computer Interaction, Step Re-conceptualization, Design Bias, Inclusive Design",

author = "Katta Spiel and Fares Kayali and Louise Horvath and Michael Penkler and Sabine Harrer and Sicart, {Miguel Angel} and Jessica Hammer",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1145/3170427.3188401",

language = "English",

booktitle = "CHI'18 Extended Abtracts",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "CHI '18 CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems : Engage with CHI ; Conference date: 21-04-2018 Through 26-04-2018",

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

}

Spiel, K, Kayali, F, Horvath, L, Penkler, M, Harrer, S, Sicart, MA & Hammer, J 2018, Fitter, Happier, More Productive? The Normative Ontology of Fitness Trackers. in CHI'18 Extended Abtracts., Paper alt08, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, CHI '18 CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , Montreal, Canada, 21/04/2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188401

TY - GEN

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

AU - Spiel, Katta

AU - Kayali, Fares

AU - Horvath, Louise

AU - Penkler, Michael

AU - Harrer, Sabine

AU - Sicart, Miguel Angel

AU - Hammer, Jessica

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 - Fitness Trackers

KW - Human-Computer Interaction

KW - Step Re-conceptualization

KW - Design Bias

KW - Inclusive Design

KW - Fitness Trackers

KW - Human-Computer Interaction

KW - Step Re-conceptualization

KW - Design Bias

KW - Inclusive Design

U2 - 10.1145/3170427.3188401

DO - 10.1145/3170427.3188401

M3 - Article in proceedings

BT - CHI'18 Extended Abtracts

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York, NY, USA

T2 - CHI '18 CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Y2 - 21 April 2018 through 26 April 2018

ER -

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

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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Cite this