Article:

Digitale Selbstvermessung. Verdatung und soziale Kontrolle

At the interface of mobile media, sensor networks, GPS localization, automated methods of identification, digital data visualization and social web applications, activity trackers are a key factor in the ‹datalization› of our bodies and a means of reflexive ‹self-scientification›. This article is concerned with the program logic of digital activity and health monitoring, assessing its status in the context of practices of self-guidance in process-oriented negotiation processes. In this context, the article sets up a theoretical framework that allows ‹self-tracking› to be described as boundary objects of web-based communication processes, practical forms of self-thematization and constellations of biosocial control, e.g. via feedback loops. This article creates reflexive space for nuanced analysis of the media practices of self-tracking and examines the ambivalent relationship between program logic and the freedoms of reflexive subjects.