Table Of ContentSELF-TRACKING
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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
Auctions, Timothy P. Hubbard and Harry J. Paarsch
Understanding Beliefs, Nils J. Nilsson
Cloud Computing, Nayan Ruparelia
Computing: A Concise History, Paul E. Ceruzzi
The Conscious Mind, Zoltan L. Torey
Crowdsourcing, Daren C. Brabham
Free Will, Mark Balaguer
Information and the Modern Corporation, James W. Cortada
Intellectual Property Strategy, John Palfrey
The Internet of Things, Samuel Greengard
Memes in Digital Culture, Limor Shifman
Metadata, Jeffrey Pomerantz
MOOCs, Jonathan Haber
Open Access, Peter Suber
Paradox, Margaret Cuonzo
Self-Tracking, Gina Neff and Dawn Nafus
Waves, Frederic Raichlen
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SELF-TRACKING
GINA NEFF AND DAWN NAFUS
The MIT Press | Cambridge, Massachusetts | London, England
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© 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by
any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or
information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was set in Chaparral Pro by the MIT Press. Printed and bound in
the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Neff, Gina, 1971– author.
Title: Self-tracking / Neff, Gina, and Dawn Nafus.
Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2016. | Series: The MIT Press
essential knowledge series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015039937 | ISBN 9780262529129 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Patient self-monitoring. | Self-monitoring. | Self-care,
Health—Technological innovations. | Medical telematics. | Medical
innovations—Social aspects. | Information technology—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC RA418.5.M4 N44 2016 | DDC 610.285—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039937
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CONTENTS
Series Foreword vii
Acknowledgments ix
1 An Introduction to Self-Tracking 1
2 What Is at Stake? The Personal Gets Political 37
3 Making Sense of Data 69
4 Self-Tracking and the Technology Industry 105
5 Self-Tracking and Medicine 135
6 Future Directions for Self-Tracking 167
Notes 193
Glossary 205
Additional Resources 209
Index 213
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SERIES FOREWORD
The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers acces
sible, concise, beautifully produced pocket-size books on
topics of current interest. Written by leading thinkers, the
books in this series deliver expert overviews of subjects
that range from the cultural and the historical to the sci
entific and the technical.
In today’s era of instant information gratification, we
have ready access to opinions, rationalizations, and super
ficial descriptions. Much harder to come by is the founda
tional knowledge that informs a principled understanding
of the world. Essential Knowledge books fill that need.
Synthesizing specialized subject matter for nonspecialists
and engaging critical topics through fundamentals, each
of these compact volumes offers readers a point of access
to complex ideas.
Bruce Tidor
Professor of Biological Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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SERIES FOREWORD
SERIES FOREWORD
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One of the key points of this book is that knowledge—even
about the self—is a social product. So, too, of course, is this
little book, which was made possible only through the con
tributions and efforts of many. While this book is a primer
and not a work of ethnography, many people have been
extraordinarily generous with their time, teaching us their
perspective, sharing their views on data, and helping us
understand what the stakes are. The dedication of patient
advocates, data activists, and quantified-self enthusiasts
inspires us with a view of what is possible when people get
involved in the technologies that matter to them.
Margy Avery first encouraged us to think about how
to communicate the issues of self-tracking for the gen
eral reader. Without her keen editorial instincts we would
have never taken on this project. Susan Buckley and Gita
Manaktala helped shape and guide it from sketchy pro
posal to the finished product. Kathleen Caruso once again
proved to be an extraordinary manuscript editor seem
ingly capable of managing every possible contingency
with grace and attention to detail, and the keen eye of co
pyeditor Julia Collins improved this book tremendously.
Shannon O’Neill and Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie
McQuilkin worked with us to clarify our ideas for the gen
eral audience and ensured that they made it into print. For
that we are both exceedingly grateful.
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