Schroeder, MeadowRingland, KathrynZhang, Xinchi2024-10-022024-10-022024-09-20Zhang, X. (2024). A case of one: an autobiographical design approach to explore a personal informatics preparation stage procedure (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119935This thesis exploration was started as a personal design endeavor to have a system that can support realistic task arrangement during my graduate school. This exploration landed to the often-overlooked area — the preparation stage in the Stage-Based Model (SBM) — in the personal informatics (PI) field. Personal informatics supports people to gain self-understanding through reflection on their relevant personal data. The preparation stage, which can involve many decision-making processes such as understanding the motivation of collecting personal information, deciding the information to collect, and choosing the appropriate tools, is where prior PI research focused significantly less on. This thesis aims to narrow this gap by introducing a procedure and an accompanying artifact, Qubio. I took an autobiographical design approach. Autobiographical design offers many advantages such as close use to allow rapid iteration whenever needed (fast tinkering). Then, combining with reflection, diligent documentation (46+ hrs recordings, 262 reflection entries), and long-term usage (47 months), I established a personal reflective procedure to determine what data I might track. The procedure includes 1) externalization of obligations and interests, 2) mapping (for goal choices), and 3) task arrangement, which is supported by the token-based artifact, Qubio. This exploration bridges the preparation stage of the Stage-Based Model in PI and the Integrated Model of Goal-Focused Coaching (Integrated Model) in psychology. I conclude this thesis by discussing research opportunities in connection to the Integrated Model for the preparation stage in PI and suggesting collaboration between PI and personal information visualization to support visualization agency in PI practices. I further suggest revisiting established PI models to potentially integrate the field’s expanded understanding of PI related activities. Finally, I reflect on how an autobiographical design approach produced a personalized procedure and artifact.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Personal InformaticsAutobiographical DesignHuman-Computer InteractionGoal TheoriesTangible ComputingUbiqutous ComputingSelf TrackingInformation ScienceDesign and Decorative ArtsEducation--Technologymaster thesis