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October 4, 2024By Dr. Heather Bozant Witcher
Clarion Herald
In 2014, two artists and information designers decided to visualize a week of their lives and mail the results by postcard to each other. In advance of the start date, they decided on a list of topics they would track. For instance, one week tracks complaints and grumpiness, another keeps a record of laughter, and yet another tracks the act of saying goodbye.
For an entire year, they kept postcard records, resulting in a beautiful project about humanity called “Dear Data.”
The goal of the project is to see how the artists relate their feelings and perspectives about the topic in 4-by-6-inch visualizations that keep a record of whatever they’re tracking.
I’m having my students do the same thing on a smaller scale. Rather than an entire year, my students will track their data over two weeks. I’m having them get accustomed to the act of slowing down and paying attention.
The students get to choose the topics they want to track. Some are interested in their own emotions/attitudes; others are taking a deep dive into how frequently they curse; others are tracking frustrations or love languages.
To begin, they conducted a week of observation: no tracking or collection, just observing their daily habits, patterns and routines to decide on a topic. The overwhelming feedback after Day 1 was that it was going to be hard to remember that they were supposed to track something specific.
By the end of observation week, though, they were starting to get into a pattern and had decided on easier methods to track their data: one student was using a stack of Post-It notes and tallies; another had categorized emotions that he had observed and would use the Excel app on his phone.
What astounded me was the sheer amount of difference in how each student would be completing the collection process. What made me proud was to see their excitement.
We’re only in Week 1 of keeping count, but already students have been telling me they’re becoming more aware of themselves and their actions.
Because many of the students chose topics that rely on sociability (laughter/humor, emotions, cursing), they’re also realizing how much changes when, for example, they’re in a classroom or isolated at home. My student observing her cursing habit already realized that she’s starting to curb the behavior simply because she doesn’t want to take out her Post-It pads. Another believed her love language to be one thing but has started to wonder whether that’s true based on her records.
It’s an interesting experiment that asks students to slow down in a creative way. When we observe our lives in these ways, we can identify specific patterns that give insight into our thoughts, feelings and perspectives.
We often move too fast to identify these important aspects of everyday life. Slowing down offers accountability and reflection and can prompt change.
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