REFLECTIVE JOURNALISM | DATA MAPPING OBJECTS
The data object brief was my first assignment for ICT so for me it was about getting use to the course structure and the process of how a project would unfold. It was also my first group assignment for the course, so it was just a matter of going with the flow and seeing what unfolds. Initially when Ricardo pitched the brief in the morning lecture with some amazing examples of how data could be translated into a product and seeing how these products could help you understand an issue or be a constant reminder of an problem by either just being a simple stand-alone form or through human interactiveness. It seemed like an amazing assignment to work on, especially because the brief was somewhat to do with product design which is something I love. But as I went along one of the biggest hurdles I found was to find a data set and the problem was that I was reverse engineering the whole process, I was trying to imagine the product I wanted to make and trying to find a data that’ll help me achieve that. This made the process very slow and tedious, by the end of the week there was only a bunch of links collected with no grounding of what, how and where I wanted to go.
Week two. The first week was a slow weeks for most students with similar problems and there wasn’t much progress being made so the teachers though it was a good idea to put us in groups. We did this by putting post-it notes with our issue on a wall with everyone else’s notes, groups were then made by people with similar projects. Mine was an environmental issue, looking at global energy consumption and the usage of energy sources.
Once we were in groups we faced similar problem, trying to figure out what we wanted to make before specifying on the dataset from the links. Most of us thought that in-order for the project to be good we had to choose a complex issue and use multiple dataset, this really set us back. We were so stuck with finding that ideal data-set that another week went by and we had a collection of links and plenty of ideas for a product by non to act on.
We’d set-up a trello account to manage and assign tasks but we barely used it due to the casualness of the whole process. We though we’d assign tasks once we had a data set, but because we didn’t get around to doing this until the first week of holiday, there were no deadlines or task assigned. Towards the end of the the first week working as a group we had Kinda decided on a product (Wind-mill) and on the second week with Sangeeta’s help we’re hustled towards choosing a dataset (global renewable energy usage from 1965 -2015). This was great, for the first time we felt that we’re getting somewhere and there was a sense of achievement. The girls worked on simplifying the data onto a chart and converting it to cm, the boys worked on researching on wind-chimes (design, style ect). We noticed that the data was very small in numbers and so the impact on the product wouldn’t be that strong, so we just took the beginning 1965 and the end 2015 cutting out everything in between and using that to base our product on. We created a couple of prototypes with existing materials in the class room, pens, paper and ice-block sticks. The following day we went to look sharp and bought mini toothpick wind-chimes to create our second prototype, the day after we cut open plastic bottles and thick zip lock bags and used them to create a event bigger free-standing model. With all these prototypes we didn’t have a specific goal in mind, we’re just getting the ideas out of our head by exploring.
While progress was being made, there was still a lack of interest within our group of actually going ahead with our current data-set and product.
We had created 3-4 prototypes by now but it still didn’t feel exciting, I guess we’re still subconsciously exploring possibilities of what to do and actually choosing a dataset and doing it made us realise that it wasn’t something we wanted to do. We had previously brought up deforestation as an option so we eventually gravitated back to that. It was two days before mid-semester break and it basically went in gathering new links for deforestation data-sets. We’d come up with a few new ideas, one of the products we thought of was, a tea coaster. These coasters would be cut from a fallen tree branch at different thickness and different angle. The idea was the damage would be mapped on the angle at which the wood slab would be cut, bigger the damage, steeper the angle making it difficult to hold a drink when a cup would be placed on it (the tipping point). The other methods would be the size and thickness of the slab along with heat sensitive paint, painted at the proposition of the data-set (eg. In-order to resemble 80% on the surface of the tea coaster, you’d make a design that would cover 80% of the surface.
We manage to pick a day and organise a meetup over the first of our holidays, which was probably our most productive time together yet. We choose a data-set from our various links which was to do with bird/ bird habitat threat in Canada, America, Mexico. After drinking couple of rounds fo cider one of us suggested to use the bottles to map the data-set through creating different sounds. We quickly latched on to this idea and started blowing on the bottle banning it with a stick whilst having it filled with different levels of water. This experiment became the basis of our final ideas, the wind-chime and the flute. So for our project we wanted to use materials that were organic, naturally grown out in the nature, sustainable in abundance and related to sound due to the topic of the issue. Bamboo was the one that immediately came up, we managed to find plenty of pre-cut semi dried bamboos where we were and started making use of it. The wind-chime would be made up of two datasets, “Threats: Species at great risk of extinction” and “Habitat: Tropical residents” decay in Usa, Canada and Mexico over the course of 40 years. Our second product “The flute” which came later and was intended to be a fun project, had a global data set of ‘Global risk for bird extinction’.
There were multiple ups and down through-out the project, highs and lows of both exciting when a new idea arose or a dull sunken feel when we had a feeling of not moving further. For me it was my first project/ assignment for this course so it was all about getting a feel for the mood of the group and understanding the people around me, how they think, how are ideas shared and how do we collaborate effectively.
Dataset links / Resources.
http://www.savingoursharedbirds.org/loss-of-abundance
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/23/one-in-eight-birds-is-threatened-with-extinction-global-study-finds
