Me, Myself & Irene

Curiously and passionately, I am exploring the world of data- trying to make beautiful sense of it.

[ireneolkerud]

Sometimes I do random strawberry illustrations. 

[ireneolkerud]

Titles- what do they mean?

 A few days ago I saw the title "Digital Data Strategist" in a job ad for the first time in my life. I was very excited to read how this company defined a "digital data strategist", since during the first months of the digital data strategist program at Hyper Island, many struggled to understand what this title meant, and what exactly one would become? 

I never really put much thought into that, since I'm not fond of titles. I rather focus on what I do, and what I want to do, cause chances are that the title for this changes all the time, and I will change what I do. This is especially true in the digital world! What one does today as, for example a digital strategist, might not be the same tomorrow since this landscape is changing all the time, and fast. 

Titles becomes hyped, stays for a bit, and then become exchanged for another. All companies define titles differently, and people become confused. This is why it's important to really read the descriptions in job ads, and not just filter by titles. Of course a job ad needs some sort of headline, but it would be nice if it was easier to understand what they were actually about. Then the risk of applicants filtering out jobs that would be perfect for them would be smaller, and employers would get more relevant applicants. 

Today, the people who attended the digital data strategist program works with various different things, and fields. Some with design, some with analysis, some with strategy, and others combining it all. There are probably as many different digital data strategists as there are types of data.  

http://screeninteraction.com/en/jobs/

[ireneolkerud]

Runner ups

After six days of hard core training in business models (start-up DNA Course) , it was finally time to do some pitching. The panel of judges consisted of Miriam Grutt Norbby (Schibsted Media Group), Joel Eriksson (Creandum) and Alfred Ruth (Videoplaza). 

There were many great models and pitches that day. I'm really proud, since me and my group got really close to win. We received a certificate, for being runner ups in the competition. We got loads of great feedback on our idea and business model afterwards.  Our idea is good, because it is covering lots of problems that exists with in the educational sector, and that really needs to be solved. The model works as a closed eco system, with different parts of the model nurturing each other. 

If you want to know more details about it feel free to contact me, and I can tell you more. 

[ireneolkerud]

Start up DNA

This week is about unleashing the entrepreneur with in us. Professor and entrepreneur Bruce M Firestone  is visiting the Digital data strategists, to hold Start up DNA, a 6-day course in business. 

After the first day of the course I am very positive! Bruce delivers a very straight forward and honest approach to starting up a business, he presented many perspectives and things to consider, both when figuring out new business models as well as re-thinking existing ones. I especially took with me the idea that, when a business does not work it is not necessarily the business or the idea that is a problem, it might as well be the model- and that by tweaking it a bit you can solve some big issues. It is also about taking risks and move out of the comfort zone, something we are used to talk a lot about at Hyper Island, if you have to make hard calls and by that risk to show your self and/or your business weak, it is always worth it if it means you can grow or even save your business. 

After the morning classes we are working in teams to come up with a new innovative business model (or re-invent an existing). There are many criteria but one is that we should find ways for it to work with out needing funding. The course will finish on saturday ( 6days ), with a pitch in front of a panel and the winning group will receive a price. 

[ireneolkerud]

Strategic Portfolio

At the moment I'm making an (online)portfolio. I have been in many discussions on what a good portfolio is, and the conclusion is always; it depends on what you want it for!

So I'm making a portfolio as a strategist, even though I have been doing design in many of the projects, it is the strategy part that I want to underline. I don't want to be text heavy but It is hard to be visual in this case. I have always liked writing, but when it comes to writing about your self it's a bit different, the rule should be to find words that can tell the same things as many, but as humans we are so complex so how do you pick those few strong words? It's hard to exclude things "I'm this, but I'm also that.." You don't want to sound one sided. There are so many opinions about showcasing skills in a portfolio, should the focus be on or two? or is it better to mention all? I actually believe that as a strategist it's good to know a lot about a lot, but I understand that if you want to get hired as a designer you might be better of just focusing on design. 

I really like to look in peoples online portfolios. I have a sense for what is good and less good, and I like to have many opinions. It is just thats it is a lot harder when it comes to one self.  

So, to fit the best of your self  in this box on the Internet is pretty difficult, but a portfolio is never done and as we, and our goals change the portfolio should change with us. 

[ireneolkerud]

Marrying Digital and Print

  The last 6 weeks I was was working on a project for Bonnier Digital and Dagens Industri, one of the biggest economic newspapers in sweden. They had turned to us to get some fresh ideas and innovative solutions on how they could use data, to better understand their readers.

My group was working on how to engage the readers as well as increase subscribers, both digital and print, and how to make the two parts work better together. We were two different groups working on the same brief, and it was interesting to see what different approaches both groups took to come up with a solution, an advantage for both the client and for us since many more perspectives got touched up on. 

It was definitely a great experience working with such a huge organization, and be able to analyse bigger data sets. This is when you really see how important it is to keep track of everything you do. 

Bonnier wanted fresh-eyed ideas;  in total we delivered 16 ideas and we got more experience working with a big organization so it was definitely a win-win situation. Afterwards Bonnier said they were happy to meet so many new digital talents.

[ireneolkerud]

48 hours and a print ad

Last week I participated in a competition called 48 hours. It is the largest advertising competition for students, in Sweden. 3 students from different schools, who never met before, get teamed up; an art director, a copy writer and a strategist. Then they have 48 hours to come up with a print ad for a non profit organization, which will get published in three big newspapers in Sweden. The brief and the organization remain secret until the start of the competition. 

The organization this year was Läxhjälpen, they help young students who have problems learning, for different reasons, by giving them a sort of homework helper.

It was a great experience to participate. It is easy to start to think in a bubble, when you are working with people from the same school all the time, so it was nice to get other students perspective and exchange some knowledge. My team decided not to go with our first idea, nor or 101st idea- we wanted to push our self as far as we could, ending up with only a total of 7 hours sleep (on a dirty carpet in school). 

Doing copy, polishing photos and strategy at 6am was maybe not the best of choices, and we agreed at the hand in, that for result maybe we should have gone with our 99th idea, but in terms of learning experience we chose the right idea. 

[ireneolkerud]

“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” – Vincent Van Gogh

[ireneolkerud]

Today it's 12th of february- and this year that is also fettisdagen, the day when we traditionally eat a pastry called semla. A long time ago it was not allowed to sell this pastry in the shop before fettisdagen. Now they start to pop up in bakeries right after christmas and stays around until about easter. Truth to be told, lent is not very common in Sweden the year of 2013. 

[ireneolkerud]

As a way of sorting out who I am, what I’m good at and what I plan to do with it, I mapped my self with help of the subway system.

I chose the sub way map, since I think it’s a good metaphor for movement and change. Now, Of course I’m more complex than this- but it’s a good summary, rather than just a plain CV.

[ireneolkerud]

People in Boxes

It seems like there is some kind of gap between people who love to put a title on themselves and people who is doing everything to avoid it.

In our program, we are titled Digital Data Strategists, but what exactly is that? We are not all the same, we have different skills and knowledges and we all want different things- what ties us all together is the data, whether we will work as designers, strategists, marketers, and so on we will deliver insights and make decisions based on data. 

There for I think it is more important to focus on what we do rather than what we title our selves as. 

Last week I had a conversation with a recruiter, we were talking about the importance of picking a box that we would like to stay inside, a place where we feel we belong. I understand that people doing this will make the recruiters job a lot easier, but I couldn't quite agree with her. People staying inside of their boxes will get blind, and not able to grow, nor create growth. Jumping in between boxes, grabbing someone else's knowledge, as well as sharing your own is what makes us grow. That, I strongly believe in. I think that, by explaining what you like to do and what you are good at, a recruiter should be able to now in which role in a particular company you will fit in, since this will be different depending on the company. 

It's not so much about being free and never decide, it's more about keeping curious, open minded and passionate. I guess the title we put on our selves could work as a starting point, but only as long as it doesn't get too rubbed in, and makes us scared of going in and outside of that role. 

[ireneolkerud]

Some of me 

[ireneolkerud]

Let's say hello

A while ago, me and 3 others from the digital data strategist program decided to go to Amsterdam for a short break in the end of January.

We have been looking forward to it and on thursday we take off for 5 days, the timing couldn't be better!

At first It was planned to be a pleasure trip, but then we thought; why not combine it with some business? Or at least informal business. As we just started our new module, which is about re-inventing the portfolio, and to find out what we really want to do for our internships as well as in the future, we said we should try to visit some interesting agencies, to get a hum of what they are doing and how they are working. Since titles doesn't say that much, and means different things in different agencies, we want to see what they can mean and then work from there.

We also want to research in which ways agencies are working with data today, and let them know what is possible to do, and what benefits data can give to all aspects of a business. 

It feels good to out be in time and not having to rush in to the application process. There are so many things that matters when you decide for an internship; atmosphere, size of company, roles, tasks, chemistry, country and so on. I believe that doing this kind of research before applying for an internship benefits both the applicant and the company, it reduces the risk of people ending up where they don't want to be. So, why not a quick hello before we move on? :).

Just click the contact me button under my picture if you want to meet up!

[ireneolkerud]

  After numerous of sketches and changes in the concept, we finally got down to a result that we all felt happy with. Telling from the clients (Hyper island) feedback they were also happy with it, it was something like " How long will it take to make 7 more pieces?" 

We also made a stop motion to show our group process, and after the final touches I will publish that one as well. It was the first time any of us had done a stop motion, and we decided to do it 2 days before deadline. It might seem like a bad decision, and even though we stressed a lot I feel that we took a risk, and we learned more then if we would have just made a document with the process, so for me it was the right choice. 

[ireneolkerud]

Real Data Art Exhibition @Hyper Island

During a few days we worked with data visualization artist Stevanie Posavec. This is a summary of what our physical data art exhibition was all about. 

[ireneolkerud]

Hyper Island Visualization

Our Client in this module is Hyper Island. We are supposed to make an infographic or a data visualization for them, and we have the freedom to choose what data we want (that we can find) to use and what story we want to tell, with out too many restrictions. 

In one way it's nice, I love what they are doing and it's an organization that I admire (hence my choice of studying there), on the other hand it's sometimes hard to work with something that your are close to every day, and it's hard to find new angles and think from an outside perspective.

Some of the keywords we have decided to work with in my group are growth, demand, change and adapt. The data we have is strong, and at the moment we are trying to come up with a good way of visualizing it and how to connect those juicy pieces of data. Graphic designer and data visualization artist Piero Zagami, was at Hyper Island today  to help us in the right direction. It was very nice to talk to him and get a professional perspective as well as feedback. It's always nice to try your concept on an "outsider" to see if the story goes through or if it needs to be crystalized. 

Early sketching :)

[ireneolkerud]

Eat your oats!

A quick look back, and then Happy New Year !

Just before christmas, we had a 72 hour collaborative workshop lead by Stefanie Posavec, a London-based artist working across data visualization.

We were challenged to create physical art using digital data, and then show it during an exhibition. The focus was on global issues and how to change peoples' attitude and behaviour with data art. 

My group decided to go with something that everyone may not see as an issue, something that people may do or may not do everyday, and something that everyone can change- breakfast routines. Having breakfast (or not) every day, has a big impact on your health, if you eat a small meal every morning it has benefits such as weight loss, less risk for diabetes, more energy and better focus at work. 

We created a breakfast buffet with different health benefits and consequenses, the visitors had to answer if they'd had breakfast or not, and then fill up their cups according to the recipe in front of them. A non-breakfast eater for example, had to fill his or her cup with 2 spoons of diabetes, whereas a breakfast eater could take 2 spoons of energy. In the end the cups made a beautiful visualisation of different health aspects, and the different colors in the cups made it clear that eating breakfast is something you should try to do. 

An interesting side note, or something we noticed through the day, was that people who didn't eat breakfast seemed more eager to break the rules than the breakfast eaters. They usually did not follow the recipe in the right order- but the breakfast eaters did.