Confessional data selfies and intimate digital traces

Robards, Brady; Lyall, Ben; Moran, Claire

doi:10.1177/1461444820934032

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…While there are connections here to wider cultural trends at the intersection of tracking, diet, and bodies (Kent 2020), the refrain of not wanting to 'go back' that is common to both Adam and Jess, is significant for the current interest in memory. Disciplinary and 'confessional' features of self-tracking are not new to self-tracking research, consistent with Foucauldian research findings discussing the intersections of self-tracking and body weight self-tracking (Couch et al 2019;Esmonde and Jette 2020;Robards et al 2021), as well as mental health examples (Lomborg et al 2018). Here, we see data holding power.…”

Section: Spectres Of Selfsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Disciplinary and ‘confessional’ features of self-tracking are not new to self-tracking research, consistent with Foucauldian research findings discussing the intersections of self-tracking and body weight self-tracking (Couch et al 2019; Esmonde and Jette 2020; Robards et al . 2021), as well as mental health examples (Lomborg et al . 2018).…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Narratives in numbers: Sociotechnical storytelling with self-tracking

Lyall

2024

Mem. Mind & Media

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This paper explores self-tracking as a social practice with significant relationships to human memory. The history of data and memory is fraught with a concern that specifics of qualia are subjugated to datafication. Yet, historical perspectives linking paper diaries and digital tracking show that rich accounts can be preserved in media. Cognisant of both perspectives, this paper argues that rather than delegating reflection to algorithms, users engage critically. Using original research data, this paper demonstrates how users unite the sociotechnical affordances of devices, data visualisations, and personal narratives to communicate memory in mediated forms. In doing so, they bridge semantic and autobiographic memory, combining subjectivity and objectivity. A datafied narration of everyday life emerges, affirming unique and vital stories. Often directed toward future goals, the mnemonic value of self-tracking in the present is overlooked. Yet whether recalling unfortunate accidents, sporting success, work, holidays, or illness experiences, participants use data as a scaffold to build stories and affirm identity. This paper asserts that memory and storytelling is an essential anchor for practices of digital self-tracking.

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Section: Spectres Of Selfsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narratives in numbers: Sociotechnical storytelling with self-tracking

Lyall

2024

Mem. Mind & Media

Self Cite

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“…The athletic monitoring platform Strava refers to the sharing of details about their physical activities by its members as “social sharing:” a way of both receiving and bestowing support and encouragement between members ( 11 ). Other forums can take on a confessional tone, where users reveal “bad” data and seek redemption and moral support from other users ( 13 , 20 , 23 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Sharing Is Caring:” Australian Self-Trackers' Concepts and Practices of Personal Data Sharing and Privacy

Lupton

2021

Front. Digit. Health

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Self-tracking technologies and practices offer ways of generating vast reams of personal details, raising questions about how these data are revealed or exposed to others. In this article, I report on findings from an interview-based study of long-term Australian self-trackers who were collecting and reviewing personal information about their bodies and other aspects of their everyday lives. The discussion focuses on the participants' understandings and practices related to sharing their personal data and to data privacy. The contextual elements of self-tracked sharing and privacy concerns were evident in the participants' accounts and were strongly related to ideas about why and how these details should be accessed by others. Sharing personal information from self-tracking was largely viewed as an intimate social experience. The value of self-tracked data to contribute to close face-to-face relationships was recognized and related aspects of social privacy were identified. However, most participants did not consider the possibilities that their personal information could be distributed well-beyond these relationships by third parties for commercial purposes (or what has been termed “institutional privacy”). These findings contribute to a more-than-digital approach to personal data sharing and privacy practices that recognizes the interplay between digital and non-digital practices and contexts. They also highlight the relational and social dimensions of self-tracking and concepts of data privacy.

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“…The anonymity of Reddit is its defining feature. Users often value Reddit for its anonymous nature; therefore, they refrain from providing identifiable details to maintain anonymity (Robards et al, 2021; Van der Nagel & Frith, 2015). Posts are published under pseudonyms, and Reddit’s content or user profile does not include names, ages, countries, or friend lists.…”

Section: Applying the Framework To Research Youth Health Discussion O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ethics of Publicly Available Data Research: A Situated Ethics Framework for Reddit

Gliniecka

2023

Social Media + Society

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Using user-generated content from open-access platforms such as Reddit for research raises ethical questions and challenges. Research projects involving publicly available data can qualify for an exemption from human research ethics review. However, when the exemption is granted, some scholars move to the data collection phase without attending further to ethical considerations. This does not always result from negligence but can be driven by the lack of coherent guidelines or limitations of procedural ethics. Despite receiving an exemption from ethics review, researchers can still engage with ethical concerns throughout the project. This article argues that a “situated ethics approach” to researching publicly available online data, which pays attention to flexibility, reflexivity, and complexity of research ethics, should be applied to projects working with data from user-led platforms—Reddit or others. Using a reflexive process and drawing iteratively on learnings, this article describes and analyses a situated ethics framework applied to a case study of doctoral research about youth health discussions on Reddit. Through a focus on three key areas: digital context, users’ views, and project specificity, the framework inspired a set of ethical questions that can assist with applying situated ethics to other studies. This paper advocates that a “situated ethics approach” to researching publicly available online data can usefully advance debates and practice in research on user-led platforms with public data, such as Reddit.

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Confessional data selfies and intimate digital traces

Cited by 9 publications

References 36 publications

Narratives in numbers: Sociotechnical storytelling with self-tracking

Narratives in numbers: Sociotechnical storytelling with self-tracking

“Sharing Is Caring:” Australian Self-Trackers' Concepts and Practices of Personal Data Sharing and Privacy

The Ethics of Publicly Available Data Research: A Situated Ethics Framework for Reddit

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