M E A S U R I N G - T H E - W O R L D¶
M E A S U R I N G - T H E - W O R L D 08.03.23
Data and maps are tools of measuring things, ways to understand the world, measure and understand the things around us.
This was a very interesting course where we discusses what data is, understanding who owns it and who can access it. We were introduced to forms of understanding data as information and how it could be visualised to be understood in a visible and tangible way. Data and maps are tools of measuring things, ways to understand the world, measure and understand the things around us. Very simple data can become very powerful and valuable information. A course to show how to in a very short time collect data and use, discuss and play with it while questioning why we are doing what we do and what the implications could be.
What is data and what is information? What is the difference?
Data is defined as individual facts in raw form. It can come in the form of for example text, observations, figures, images, numbers, graphs, or symbols. There are two main types of data - Quantitative data which is provided in numerical form, like the weight, volume, or cost of an item, and Qualitative data which is descriptive, but non-numerical, like the name, sex, or eye color of a person.
On its own data can be useless or without significance, until it is analyzed, organized, and interpreted.
Information is defined as knowledge gained through study, communication, research, or instruction and is the result of organising, analysing and interpretating pieces of data. Information maps out data to provide a big-picture view of how it all fits together. When the data is organized and compiled in a useful way can it provide information that is beneficial to others and when combining these components together it can help identify and solve problems.
How to show information so its understandable for everyone? Machine readable or human readable
During the seminar we spoke about the importance of understanding data and where to access it to be able to understand information. We all understand things differently and will therefor also present information differently. The importance of access to be able to interpret the facts becomes of importance for all people to have access to information. There are different types of access - Open (wikipedia, anyone can access) vs Shared (limited sharing ex instagram if not logged in can’t access etc) vs Closed data (only small restricted access, ex bank account). There is also the concept of openness, open software, open data, open source, data that can be used freely, but it doesn’t always mean that its open or that its accessible, not everyone can take advantage of open data in the same way if we for example dont have the tools or accessibility to understand it or use it. How you present data can create different narratives depending on who does it, the access to raw data gives the possibility to understand the source and create other narratives for more people to understand. Learning to use APIs can give you the freedom to understand data.
As an assignment to understand how to collect data, analyse it and visualise it we to were in groups choose a hypothesis and subject that we wanted to understand and measure.
I worked togeteher with Ramiro, Paige, June and Marielle where we chose to question if the MDEF classroom affects, creativity, motivation and overall health. We could do this through understanding overall how the built environment affects us, through air quality, lighting, colors, furniture and overall interior. We were introduced to a couple different tools that could be used within the groups to measure different qualities. Our group used the Smart Citizen Kit to be able to measure air quality, CO2, light, particles and noise. It was a really cool experience to use the Smart Citizen, very simple to connect and you can see the data collected in real time, as well as take part of other Smart Citizen data kist around the world.
Link to our Hack Md https://hackmd.io/@R5tnb0awQtithsmc89e5Ag/rkotqyIJh/edit
This course was very interesting as I’ve started to understand that this is how I like to work, and after reflecting on my background and what I ahve dome in the past, the core of the products I’ve made have e´been a visualisation of data and combining information to something understandbale through the senses, evrythign from furniture to exhibitions and communication. We were here again introduced to the Barcelona based studio Domestic Data Streamers that started with a simple idea: That the world couldn’t be understood without numbers, but it wouldn’t be understood with numbers alone. They believe that any meaningful interchange of information between people needs to carry emotions, experiences to create knowledge or change.Combining the power of storytelling with data to create participatory projects that build community and educate, to craft campaigns that communicate, products that truly connect and exhibitions that make people feel and think with more empathy.(https://domesticstreamers.com/about/)
A studio i want to learn more about and understand how they work. It was also a step in my journey to put more concrete words on what it is I want to do.