Wearable witnesses
Deathlogging and framing wearable technology data in “Fitbit murders”
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13011990 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James N Gilmore (0000-0002-5442-3522, Clemson University, corresponding author), Cassidy Gruber (Clemson University) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 195-211 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Mobile Media & Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2050-1579 • E-ISSN: 2050-1587 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/20501579231208139 |
| OpenAlex | W4387741524 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
Wearable self-tracking devices such as Fitbit and Apple Watch have begun to be featured in high-profile criminal cases such as murder trials for the ways the data from these devices supposedly give access to objective truths about a victim's physiological state and time of death. Drawing from the concepts of deathlogging and datafication, we argue that an examination of media framing around wearables in criminal investigations and court rooms helps demonstrate how technologies become connected to different domains and practices. A discourse analysis of five case studies and 57 news stories showed how the framing of wearables in this context emphasized both enchantment with the capacity for datafication to witness, as well as contestation around how to define and interpret this witnessing. This study demonstrated how reporting around the incorporation of mobile media technologies into institutional practices often reproduced desires for digital technologies to provide access to “the truth” of social reality
Framing (construction · Internet privacy · Media studies · Political science · Social media · Sociology · Wearable computer · Wearable technology · Witness · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · History · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
Self-Tracking
The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology
Locative disconnection
Deathlogging
Digital Remains Made Public
The state of wearable health technologies
Funeral and Instagram
Affective witnessing
Postmortal Society
Predicting Covid-19
Media witnessing and the ripeness of time
Augmented criminality
Self-tracking and mobile media
User engagement with smart wearables
Covid-19 now and then
Mobile communication, social presence, and perceived security on public transport
The place of data
Datafication, dataism and dataveillance
True crime podcasting
The grand interruption
Everywear
Our metrics, ourselves
Media-Hype
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
The Self-Surveillance Failures of Wearable Communication
Witnessing
The mediated construction of reality
The Only Thing New is the Cameras
Techniques to Identify Themes
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |