Tuesday 20 November 2018 – C3RI Lunchtime Seminar with Dr Amon Rapp, University of Turin (Italy)

Title: Making sense of personal data
Speaker: Dr Amon Rapp, University of Turin (Italy)
Date and time: Tuesday 20th November 2018, 1.00pm-2.00pm
Hosted by: Professor Luigina Ciolfi

Abstract:
The so-called Quantified Self movement, which is also known as Personal Informatics, has the aim to collect and use personal data through technological means for self-reflection and self-knowledge. Over recent years, a plethora of self-tracking tools, in the form of wearable devices and mobile apps, have been developed both for research and commercial purposes. As a result, the practice of self-tracking has spread outside the avant-garde circle of “quantified selfers”, reaching a broader user population. Quantified Self rhetoric, however, is still based on the assumption that “self-knowledge” can be achieved through the rational analysis of a huge amount of quantitative information. This model, nonetheless, addresses the needs of just a minority of a constantly growing user base of tracking technologies.

In this talk Dr Amon Rapp will provide an overview of the key issues in current self-tracking research by exploring how specific categories of users, like inexperienced individuals and athletes, track their own data. Dr Rapp will identify both theoretical and design opportunities for moving beyond the idea of gaining “knowledge through numbers”, rather focusing on sense-making and the subjective construction of situated meanings.

Biography:
Dr Amon Rapp is a research fellow at University of Torino, where he is a member of the Smart Interactive Objects and Systems group and leads the Smart Personal Technology Lab at ICxT (Center for Innovation for Society and Territory). His main research interests are related to the exploration of theoretical and design opportunities for creating behavior change technologies and self-tracking tools, as well as of novel techniques to design gamified applications.

 

1.00PM-2.00PM
TUESDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2018
CANTOR 9131, CITY CAMPUS, SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY

See here for details of other seminars in the series.

All SHU staff and students are welcome to attend the C3RI Lunchtime Research Seminars. If you are from outside of the University and would like to attend a seminar, please email the C3RI Administrator to arrange entry.