StatCounter: A Longitudinal Study of a Portable Scholarly Metric Display

TL;DR

This longitudinal study investigates how a portable e-ink device displaying Google Scholar metrics affects academic motivation, reflection, and identity by integrating scholarly data into daily life and examining emotional and behavioral responses.

Contribution

It introduces a novel handheld device for continuous access to scholarly metrics and explores its impact on academic identity and reflective practices through auto-ethnographic analysis.

Findings

Frequent micro-checks and reflections influenced motivation and attention.

The device fostered new narratives about academic identity and companionship.

Metrics became an ambient background in scholarly life.

Abstract

This study explores a handheld, battery-operated e-ink device displaying Google Scholar citation statistics. The StatCounter places academic metrics into the flow of daily life rather than a desktop context. The work draws on a first-person, longitudinal auto-ethnographic inquiry examining how constant access to scholarly metrics influences motivation, attention, reflection, and emotional responses across work and non-work settings. The ambient proximity and pervasive availability of scholarly metrics invites frequent micro-checks, short reflective pauses, but also introduces moments of second-guessing when numbers drop or stagnate. Carrying the device prompts new narratives about academic identity, including a sense of companionship during travel and periods away from the office. Over time, the presence of the device turns metrics from an occasional reference into an ambient background of scholarly life. The study contributes insight into how situated, embodied access to academic metrics reshapes their meaning, and frames opportunities for designing tools that engage with scholarly evaluation in reflective ways.