“I Don't Understand…” Issues in Self-Quantifying Commuting

Abstract

In the context of addressing global warming issues one of the possible approaches is to provide individuals with tools that support behavior change toward greener practices, as for example in commuting. This paper illustrates the results of a study that we conducted on the effectiveness of self-tracking of commuting data where participants received daily feedback on the financial costs and CO2 emissions associated to their mobility practices. In the results, we describe situations where users either misunderstood or did not accept the data and the models utilized to represent them, highlighting a limitation that diary instruments (and underlying models) of this type would have in supporting people to reflect upon and possibly change their mobility choices.