Data and postcards

I recently read the book Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec. As some of you know, hearing about this project (on Twitter I think?) was part of the impetus behind the CLMOOC postcard project, so when I heard there was a book, I was ecstatic.

I loved everything about this book, though it was so very different from most of what I read. The book chronicles a year long project in which the two authors exchange postcards that summarized data about the daily lives of the two authors. It is a rich humanization of data, covering topics as diverse as when the authors felt envious, their expressions of gratitude, the books on their bookshelves, their to-do lists, and the time they spent alone. Each of these topics was quantified, recorded, and then represented graphically on a postcard. The fact that both authors are information and data designers made for rich depictions.

One of the most lovely things about this book is the way that the authors’ charming personalities show through. Their reflections on the data include wishes, regrets, worries, and confessions. With each revelation, the reader loves them more.

While I don’t think I could do the kind of detailed data gathering or graphic depictions they did, I’m intrigued by the idea of choosing a real-time topic jointly and then making postcards about it and exchanging them. Is anyone in CLMOOC up for that? If so, we could use one of the rich topics Dear Data explored, or come up with our own. Let me know!