Personal Informatics at Work

An ever-increasing amount of sensor technologies surrounds our work environment, collecting data about workers? activity and wellbeing ? often without them having any say in this. This datafication of the workplace can help find novel ways to stimulate healthy behaviors or increase productivity. However, the ubiquitous usage of data collectors in the workplace can also put employees in a position of power imbalance, where management is frequently aiming at ?optimizing? employees towards normative and more-than-often problematic standards of productivity and wellbeing. Yet, data-tracking practices might not only seek an optimum but also can be interpreted towards self-enhancement (Meissner, 2016). In this sense, optimization is not per se an improvement on previous goals, but rather allows ?the discovery of new opportunities?. Indeed, data can be a means of giving space for users to be curious about their own subjective work experiences. Personal Informatics research has mostly focused on leisure and health-related topics but it takes on different forms, requirements, and ethical considerations for a work context. To explore how such considerations emerge from material practices, we conducted a field study, deploying a research probe called Habilyzer at a workplace (N=5). Findings show that users explored aspects meaningful to them yet highlight discrepancies between the envisioned self-tracking goals and participants? practices. Regarding sensors? open-endedness, a balance between the burden of data collection and the value derived from it appeared critical. We contribute new insights into how open-ended sensor technologies can be designed to support self-tracking practices in the workplace.