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Wearable technologies and material communication practices
Fitbit is an app that pairs with a health and fitness tracking device. In this essay I make three key arguments about apps, particularly Fitbit. My first argument is that apps have become the interface environment for proliferating hardware devices. In Fitbit’s case, automated data collection is made meaningful through the address of the app to the person using the device. Second, Fitbit constructs an ideal gendered subject for automated fitness tracking. Third, although Fitbit promises a more active lifestyle, the automation of recording directly modulates a more constrained and eviscerated subject than other forms of tracking such as journaling and diaries. I bring in English writer Dorothy Wordsworth’s diaries as a case study to offer a historical perspective to the measuring of women’s footsteps over time and the changing notion of the fit feminine subject.
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Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Publisher
University of Michigan PressExternal DOI
Page range
115-124Book title
Appified: culture in age of appsISBN
9780472074044Department affiliated with
- Media and Film Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Sussex Humanities Lab Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
Sarah Murray, Jeremy MorrisLegacy Posted Date
2018-04-13First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-09-10Usage metrics
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