Personal Informatics at the Office: User-Driven, Situated Sensor Kits in the Workplace

Workplaces are increasingly leveraging data-driven technological interventions to optimize employee productivity, health, and wellbeing. Yet employees are rarely involved in designing these initiatives, nor have access to the data collected to act upon it. Building on approaches from personal informatics, we investigate the use of user-driven, open-ended sensor kits in an office context. We conducted a 3-week field study, deploying a research probe 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 an open-ended sensor kit can be designed to support self-tracking practices in the underexplored context of office work. We discuss implications for the use of personal informatics at the office and highlight opportunities for future research.