Wearable witnesses: Deathlogging and framing wearable technology data in “Fitbit murders”

Abstract

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.