Sociotechnical translations of the axiological principles of the quantified self

Special report: Produce data at the interface of several social worlds
Analysis of a corpus of US patents on the quantification and management of sleep
By Cédric Calvignac
English

Various researchers in the humanities and social sciences have recently focused their investigations on the Californian Quantified Self movement, to translate its major axiological principles and/or to discuss its foundations from an essentially critical perspective. In particular, Minna Ruckenstein and Mika Pantzar have highlighted four main families of arguments and metaphors that prevail in the discourse of the promoters of this movement: transparency, optimization, feedback loops and biohacking. Our article examines the conditions for the objectification of these major principles. What is retained of these axiological principles during the implementation phase of QS invention projects? How do they change as the innovative process is successively tested? What is the degree of diffusion of these major development axes in the current socio-technical landscape? These are the questions that have guided our documentary analysis of 614 US patents dedicated to the quantification and management of sleep time.

  • quantified self
  • transparency
  • optimization
  • feedback loops
  • biohacking
  • invention
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info