Giorgia

This was a very special week: Stefanie was in New York!! 
Of course we decided to make it the core of our week of data: we would map our interactions! 

Data gathering:
I collected data about every interaction we had in real life., via texts, emails, and tweets; I also recorded every time I saw/heard someone mentioning Stefanie (a bit crazy I know!).

Then I tried to come up with ideas on how to categorize our time together: what have we been talking and texting about? 
Real-life interactions: for the record, we got together on Monday evening for a New York data-viz crew drinking reunion (yay!) featuring our special guest Stef; we knew how hard (and very meta!) it would be to log data that night, and we’ve been texting about it the whole day;
after all we decided to rely on our memories and write everything just after the evening, only after we would get home - no note takings; no reporter-app tracking..

We also met up on Tuesday morning: I was so happy to have Stef walking the bridge with me (as I do every morning) and staying for a bit in our workspace!
We’ve been working together on our "Dear Data media strategy" (ha!), we tried to kill the hangover with coffees and bagels, and we arranged all of our postcards on the table, so beautiful! And Dear Data felt so real! 
(turned out Stef accidentally stole one of hers from my collection :D) 

Data drawing:
As for the data drawing then, I wanted to explore how to build parallel timelines with overlapping moments, and multiple entries, and different categorisations.
My postcard came out as a sort of weird technical drawing, as I see it, but I still think it has some insights, even if I realise it can be a little hard to read :(

Dear Data addiction:
This week was of course very particular, it was the first time we've seen each other after we started the project, and of course I felt I know her so much more than the last time,
...it was really like we spent time together; we passed from being acquaintances to “friends”, in a way!

Sometimes now I find myself anticipating the first week without Dear Data with sorrow, I don't want it to end! Not only I don’t wanna stop receiving Stefanie’s postcards (it’s so beautiful to take some time to read her cards!),  I also don’t wanna stop keeping this ‘data-diary’ of myself: when I look back at my postcards I can't help but smile and remember details about these weeks!
I don't write and I am not really good at writing, I am not the kind of person that could keep a journal, but this Dear Data personal documentation is definitely a source of nice memories!
I like to picture those postcards as little self portraits, fragments that compose a self portrait actually!
(Stefanie we have to come up with a new project!)

The Process: 

Stefanie

Data-gathering: 
Since I visited New York, we decided to create a card based on our physical and digital interactions with each other for the week while I was there. I didn't do much intensive tracking of interactions here, relying mainly on phone and email communications and my memory for this data. 

Data memories:
Firstly, I though New York was great. I find it sort of annoying that even though I'm an American, I've only ever been there twice, whereas so many of my friends from the UK have been there multiple times. So unfair. 

I've always had a chip on my shoulder about New York, and have always seen it as a (lesser) rival to London. So for the past 12 years, I've always needed to confirm to myself that London was better than New York, a better choice of a city to move to and start a life in. 

And of course London is amazing! But...well, being able to walk over a gigantic bridge (Williamsburg Bridge), over a massive body of water, with massive buildings surrounding me... I might have to concede that New York is pretty amazing too, and ever since have been trying to find ways to get back there. Will someone fly me back... please? 

Giorgia was an excellent host! We had a meeting at her office to discuss Dear Data, as I'm sure you can see from the photos below: Giorgia's boyfriend was secretly taking photos when we weren't looking. 

However, my main memories of New York were of drinking too much, trying to give a talk on a hangover, not hanging out enough with Giorgia, and the time going too quickly! Thank goodness for digital traces of our interactions or I wouldn't have remembered a thing. 

Data drawing:
With this drawing I decided to move back to using mainly pencil. My goal was to show the different types of 'closeness': both physical closeness globally (New York and London), locally (just in New York) and digital closeness in New York, all though the use of space on the card. 

Also, I really just enjoyed drawing the long swooping pencil lines connecting all of one person's interactions for no other reason except for the fact that they were fun to draw (Not quite data-representing-elements, which I'm sure would irritate some data people, but whatever: it's my card and I'll do what I like, ha)

Giorgia’s card:
I like how Giorgia and I were using what was effectively the same data (more so than some of the other weeks) and outcomes still look and feel so different. 

In our conversations about this project, Giorgia once mentioned how even the choices in how we capture and select the data functions as a representation of our personality or ourselves, and I like that idea. I never would have thought to capture data on whenever I heard Giorgia's name, and for me that type of data tracking seems distinctly 'her'!

(I'm definitely up for a new project, no doubt)