SPACETIME Data

The metrics.

It is an unusual week for me because I am in an interview process for a job. I wanted to check how much it would take from my study time.
I continue to explore learning with ASD by including the place. One of the characteristics is the need to control the environment (or having a very stable, familiar environment), and relative inflexibility. I am used to studying in two main places: at my desk, or in the park. Together with that, I tracked how productive I felt the time used was to include another self-awareness, subjective tracking element like last week.

The design and methodology.

Following up on last week, I updated the design according to these considerations:

Last week I agonised over having coherent colour palettes, which is why I chose similar gradient shades. However, this created a problem that I also spotted in McCandless (2012, below): the scale that looks beautiful with its gradient shades, doesn’t end up looking as harmonious when the data is collated. Therefore I opted for colours that all work together.

I wanted to experiment with less rigid drawings. Both many of my classmates and Dear Data (Lupi&Posavec 2016) tend to be less concerned with filling squares and lines perfectly. This is not the case for me, as any major imprecisions are a trigger. However, I wanted to experiment with letting the rigidity go a bit, and opted for free brush strokes.

Using mixed techniques (stamp, tape, metallic and watercolour pens). Although the data is still on paper, I felt like experimenting with textures could add another dimension. The tape added neatness.

This time I took notes first, and then decided on the presentation.

The takeouts.

I can’t see any correlations between productivity and place.

The intervew task did indeed consume a lot of time.

The brush strokes extending to the right seem now like a wasted opportunity to add another scale (horizontal axis for data).

Sources.

Lupi, G. Posavec, S. (2016) Dear Data. Princeton Architectural Press

McCandless, D. (2012) Information is Beautiful. HarperCollins Publishers

3 Replies to “SPACETIME Data”

  1. ‘this created a problem that I also spotted in McCandless (2012, below): the scale that looks beautiful with its gradient shades, doesn’t end up looking as harmonious when the data is collated.’

    This is a really interesting observation. The point at which decisions are made about the form of the data can have quite significant consequences about how it might be interpreted. And I think looking ‘harmonious’ is often a goal of data visualisation, even if it isn’t always acknowledged. There is an interesting tension between data reporting ‘facts’, and data visualisations looking engaging and ‘nice’.

    It is great see you you building on some of the ideas from last week, and experimenting further, particularly with the textures, and agree that this could give you interesting additional dimensions to explore.

    I also really liked that you emphasised the ‘data void’, rather than assumed it wasn’t important. Perhaps the gaps in data are as interesting as the data themselves?

  2. That’s interesting – I wonder if there is space to consider thinking process around work which isn’t in the physical spaces mentioned

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