This Way: Expressive Self-Tracking as Creative Practice

The technological, economic, political, sociological, and theoretical dimensions of self-tracking as creative practice are analysed through a case study of a GPS drawing made by a Dutch amateur cyclist. Addressing the surveillance issues surrounding satellite navigation and fitness apps, as well as the economic models employed by the technology companies running the latter, the article uses sociologist Deborah Luptons five different modes of self-tracking to approach the self-tracking practice of the case study and propose a sixth mode: expressive self-tracking. A post-representational reading of GPS drawing emphasises the ambiguity of authorship and degree of completeness of digital production.

Key words:
self-tracking, GPS drawing, fitness apps, non-specialists, surveillance, post-representational cartography