Personal Data Postcard

Personal Data Postcard and Reflection- 10% total

(c/o Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec of Dear Data)

Due: Wednesday, February 19th , in class

Between now and Wednesday, February 12th, find seven consecutive days to collect this data. Incorporate the following data collection practice into your daily lives (sounds daunting, but should only take a minute or so distributed over every time you interact with this type of data during the course of a day).

Materials: physical postcard, pencil/pen, colored pencils/pens (if you'd like, these are available in the Idea Lab or in my office).

Goals:

• Practice data collecting
• Learn about how the data collecting process changes how you view the world (potentially)
• Begin thinking about how data can be put together in a coherent way without relying on familiar tools like spreadsheets, etc.
• Think creatively about something that may seem mundane
• Tell a story

Instructions:

• Using a data collection method of your choosing (physical notebook, your phone, laptop, etc.) track the types of doors you enter/exit over the course of 7 days.
• Create a physical postcard that visualizes the data in a way that you find meaningful. Think about what types of doors you encountered, what you define as a door (bathroom stall door? bus entry?), how do you deal with revolving doors? You are allowed to use words, but please use fewer than 50. You do not have to be a skilled draftsperson to do this.
• Write a ~400-word reflection on the process to be shared in class on February 19. Please bring your postcard to class. Cover the following in your reflection:
  1. Data gathering: what was the data collection process like? What was surprising?
  2. My days: what did the process/exercise reveal about your daily life?
  3. My drawing: explain how you got to the drawing that you presented on your postcard
• Examples:
  • Week 01: A week of clocks
  • Week 07: A week of complaints
  • Week 14: A week of productivity/schedules
  • Week 46: A week of books we own

Grading Rubric:

• I will evaluate the postcards according to the following elements:
  • The postcard demonstrates engagement with the prompt.
  • The postcard and in-class reflection demonstrates engagement throughout the process of collecting and analyzing the data.
  • The postcard tells a story.
  • The message is coherent: Talk to each other and have friends look at your postcard. Can they understand what they're looking at with the information you've provided?