“My smartwatch told me to see a sleep doctor”: a study of activity tracker use

Pingo, Z; Narayan, B

“My smartwatch told me to see a sleep doctor”: a study of activity tracker use

Pingo, Z

Narayan, B

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Online Information Review, 2019
Issue Date:: 2019-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Pingo, Z https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0433-605X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Narayan, B https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8852-5589	en_US
dc.date.issued	2019-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Online Information Review, 2019	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1468-4527	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136162
dc.description.abstract	© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of wearable health and fitness trackers in everyday life, and users’ motivations and their understanding and use of the data derived from devices, and understand the results using the lens of information behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a qualitative, constructionist approach, based on 21 interviews with users of a range of wearable activity trackers used for health and fitness. Findings: Findings show that the lifelogging devices have become companion tools that enable users to take information from their bodily indicators and make some decisions about their health and fitness, and also track the results when they act on it, thus giving them a sense of gratification and a sense of control over their own health. Practical implications: The findings have implications on how health professionals can talk to their lifelogging patients about how to deal with and understand the information provided by their activity-tracking devices. Some participants in the study already discuss these data regularly with their health professionals. Originality/value: As the self-tracking practices attract wide range research interests from human–computer interaction, information systems, digital sociology, health informatics and marketing among others. This study provides important everyday information-seeking perspective that contributes to the understanding of the practices of how people make sense of the data, how the data improves their wellbeing, i.e. physical health improvement or fitness, and implications to users health behaviour. Additionally the study adds to the lifelogging literature through a constructionist, qualitative approach rather than a technological deterministic approach.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Online Information Review	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1108/OIR-04-2018-0115	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Information & Library Sciences	en_US
dc.title	“My smartwatch told me to see a sleep doctor”: a study of activity tracker use	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	0807 Library and Information Studies	en_US
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/IKM and Digital Studies Program
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
dc.identifier.doi	http://doi.org/10.1108/oir-04-2018-0115	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of wearable health and fitness trackers in everyday life, and users’ motivations and their understanding and use of the data derived from devices, and understand the results using the lens of information behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a qualitative, constructionist approach, based on 21 interviews with users of a range of wearable activity trackers used for health and fitness. Findings: Findings show that the lifelogging devices have become companion tools that enable users to take information from their bodily indicators and make some decisions about their health and fitness, and also track the results when they act on it, thus giving them a sense of gratification and a sense of control over their own health. Practical implications: The findings have implications on how health professionals can talk to their lifelogging patients about how to deal with and understand the information provided by their activity-tracking devices. Some participants in the study already discuss these data regularly with their health professionals. Originality/value: As the self-tracking practices attract wide range research interests from human–computer interaction, information systems, digital sociology, health informatics and marketing among others. This study provides important everyday information-seeking perspective that contributes to the understanding of the practices of how people make sense of the data, how the data improves their wellbeing, i.e. physical health improvement or fitness, and implications to users health behaviour. Additionally the study adds to the lifelogging literature through a constructionist, qualitative approach rather than a technological deterministic approach.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/136162