page_title: Quantified self
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Quantified self / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Quantified Self Logo
context_page_description: The quantified self refers both to the cultural phenomenon of self-tracking with technology and to a community of users and makers of self-tracking tools who share an interest in “self-knowledge through numbers.” Quantified Self practices overlap with the practice of lifelogging and other trends that incorporate technology and data acquisition into daily life, often with the goal of improving physical, mental, and/or emotional performance.The widespread adoption in recent years of wearable fitness and sleep trackers such as the Fitbit or the Apple Watch, combined with the increased presence of Internet of Things in healthcare and in exercise equipment, have made self-tracking accessible to a large segment of the population.
  Other terms for using self-tracking data to improve daily functioning are auto-analytics, body hacking, self-quantifying, self-surveillance, sousveillance, and personal informatics.
context_section_description: According to Riphagen et al, the history of the quantimetric self-tracking using wearable computers began in the 1970s:
  "The history of self-tracking using wearable sensors in combination with wearable computing and 
  wireless communication already exists for many years, and also appeared, in the form of sousveillance back in the 1970s [13, 12]"
  Quantimetric self-sensing was proposed for the use of wearable computers to automatically sense and measure exercise and dietary intake in 2002:
  "Sensors that measure biological signals, ... a personal data recorder that records ... Lifelong videocapture together with blood-sugar levels, ... correlate blood-sugar levels with activities such as eating, by capturing a food record of intake."
  The "quantified self" or "self-tracking" are contemporary labels. They reflect the broader trend of the progressions for organization and meaning-making in human history; there has been a use of self-taken measurements and data collection that attempted the same goals that the quantified movement has. Scientisation plays a major role in legitimizing self-knowledge through self-tracking. As early as 2001, media artists such as Ellie Harrison and Alberto Frigo extensively pioneered the concept, proposing a new direction of labour-intensive self-tracking without using privacy infringing automation.
  The term quantified self appears to have been proposed in San Francisco by Wired magazine editors Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly in 2007 as "a collaboration of users and tool makers who share an interest in self knowledge through self-tracking." In 2010, Wolf spoke about the movement at TED, and in May 2011, the first international conference was held in Mountain View, California. There are conferences in America and Europe. Gary Wolf said "Almost everything we do generates data." Wolf suggests that companies target advertising or recommend products use data from phones, tablets, computers, other technology, and credit cards. However, using the data they make can give people new ways to deal with medical problems, help sleep patterns, and improve diet.
  Philosophers like Michel Foucault are recognized as being a part of the foundations in the ideas of the quantified movement. Foucault and other philosophers focus on the idea of "care of the self," in which they emphasize the importance of self-knowledge for personal development. Foucault explains that it involves looking inside oneself and emphasizes self-reflection, which is also associated with the quantified self movement, where self-tracking participants can attend "show-and-tell" style conventions to share their experiences with the technology. Over a hundred groups in 34 countries worldwide exist, with the largest groups in San Francisco, New York, London, and Boston having over 1500 members each.
caption: The logo of Quantified Self Labs, a company founded by Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly, which holds conferences and other events
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