Designing Documentary Informatics

Elsden, C; Durrant, AC; Chatting, D; Kirk, DS

doi:10.1145/3064663.3064714

Designing Documentary Informatics

Lookup NU author(s): Christopher Elsden, Professor Abi Durrant ORCiD, Dr David Chatting, Professor Dave Kirk ORCiD

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a conference proceedings (inc. abstract) that has been published in its final definitive form by ACM, 2017.

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Abstract

In this paper we describe a Research through Design inquiry about a speculative wedding documentation service, in the mode of the Quantified Self. We reflect on our design research, which included design ethnography, interviews, enactments of parts of the service, and the production of a concept brochure. In so doing, we explore the design of personal tracking as a documentary activity, one intended for longer-term self-expression and remembering -- rather than simply to monitor, regulate and motivate a data-driven life. Developing the Lived Informatics discourse, we use our design-led inquiry to propose "Documentary Informatics" as an alternative and longer-term design perspective on self-tracking tools.