Digital preservation and curation of self-tracking data: A position paper

Thanks to recent advances in the field of ubiquitous computing, an increasing number of users now rely on tools and apps that allow them to track specific aspects of their lives. An example are step counters and activity trackers that are promoted as unobtrusive tools to monitor our fitness levels. Interestingly, although significant research and development efforts went into improving the accuracy of these self-tracking devices, hardly any research is performed on the digital preservation of the data created. This position paper highlights challenges and opportunities arising from the digital preservation of self-tracking data.