Theories and principles of digital self-tracking systems design

This article discusses the theories and principles mobilized in the design of digital self-tracking systems. It mainly draws on the Human-Computer Interaction literature [1], and shows that the main theoretical sources used in this field are psychological theories on motivation and behavioural change. The analysis of the motivation and behavioural change techniques applied by designers highlights a noteworthy feature of systems that incorporate these techniques: they are not limited to quantification. They also include functions that perform activity monitoring and evaluation operations based on objectives set by the designers or the user. This paper argues that these operations entail a particular Human-Machine relationship, characterized by a hybrid form of distributed self-regulation.