Week 6 - Gathering data

rosieglenwright
Oct 25, 2019
5 min read

Updated: May 2, 2020

Over the next week I am going to gather different types of data and then experiment with visualising it.

I have been getting wrapped up with the idea of an installation so I want to divert my attention to something fun and experimental. If this technique works well for me I can then apply the same method with the data I gather about sexual harassment and potentially incorporate it within my installation.

To begin with I wanted to incorporate the public and gather data involving them. In order to relate it to my topic of interest I asked females how safe they felt in Dundee and asked them to rank from 1-5. I put post-it notes around different bathrooms over the University for a couple of days and then went back to see what the response was.

When I went back to collect the post-it notes most of them had been taken down or had no responses. There were a few however that I retrieved that were still intact and had some responses. There was 26 results for the question I had asked.

How safe do you feel in Dundee?

5 - Very safe: 4 people

4 - Safe: 9 people

3 - Quite safe: 6 people

2 - Unsafe: 5 people

1 - Very unsafe: 2 people

After getting the post-it notes back I quickly realised that this form of data collecting had not been the most effective. I realised that the question I had posed to the potential readers was very vague and did not really uncover anything groundbreaking. On average most people (n=19) feel safe in Dundee. I do not feel like there is enough substantial data here to represent it visually.

I have decided to track data about myself for the next couple of days, this means there will be a much wider range of data to experiment with. I kept a note in my phone so it was easy to keep track of.

Day 1 - Checking the time

Checking the time is something I do habitually without even realising so I wanted to keep track of how often I checked in one day.

Things I would take note of: the reason I was checking, the device I was checking on and my thoughts at the time.

Reason:

C = curious/ on purpose

G = glanced

H = hungry

B = bored

D = deliberately cos of project

Q = someone asked

X = don’t look but I did

Device:

P = phone

L = laptop

C = clock

Thoughts:

In Italics

09:00 - P (alarm) - C - 10 more mins

09:40 - P - C - Where is the boiler man?

10:00 - P - C - Should leave

10:24 - C - C - Lecture?

11:28 - P - B - I’ll leave at 12

11:44 - P - B - Lunch

12:06 - P - C - I’m late

12:11 - P - G - I’m so late

12:19 - P - G

12:26 - P - G - Need to start

12:33 - P - G

12:43 - P - X

12:52 - P - H

13:05 - L - Q

13:24 - P - A

13:43 - P - Q

15:11 - P - C - I should do work

15:11 - P - G - An hour till lecture

15:47 - L - C - Shit

15:53 - P - C - I have 30 mins

16:07 - P - C - I have lecture soon

16:26 - P - C - I’m late

16:43 - P - G - It’s fine

17:01 - P - G - home time

17:11 - P - C - I’m fine

17:24 - P - C - Hurry up

17:35 - P - C - Hurry up

17:45 - P - C - Go

17:56 - P - C - I’m fine

18:16 - P - C

18:21 - P - C

18:50 - P - H

19:14 - Someone else - C

19:26 - Someone else - C

19:58 - P - H

20:43 - P - B

21:00 - P - C

22:23 - P - G - Tired

22:41 - P - B

23:03 - P - B

23:40 - C - B - It’s fine

23:59 - P- G

08:40 - C - C

09:00 - P - C - Over

Day 2 - Swearing

Again, swearing is something I do regularly but I was unaware of just how much I swore on a daily basis.

Reason:

A - Angry

C - Casual

D - Accidental

S - Scared

Who heard:

M - Me

F - Friend

P - Public

R - Repeated

10:55 - Fuck - A - M

10:56 - Fucking - A - M

11:05 - Cunt - C - F

13:00 - Fuck - C - F

12:05 - Shit - C - P

12:10 - Fucking - D - P

12:11 - Fuck - D - P

13:04 - Fuck it - D - P

14:30 - Holy shit - C - F

14:30 - Holy shit - C - F - R

14:32 - Fuck - C - F

14:32 - Fucking - C - F

14:36 - Shit - C - F - R

14:41 - Shitey x3 - C - F - R

14:44 - Fucking - C - F

14:46 - Fucking - C - P

14:56 - Fuck - C - F

15:01 - Shit - C - F

15:04 - Shit - C - F

15:04 - Fuck - D - P

15:11 - Fuck - C - F - R

15:11 - Fuck - C - F

15:11 - Cunt - C - F

15:18 - Fuck - C - F

15:28 - Fucking - C - M

19:16 - Fucking - A - P

19:17 - Fuck - A - P

22:26 - Fucking - C - M

22:27 - Fuck - A - M

23:22 - Fucking - C - M

23:34 - Fucking - A - F

23:34 - Fucking - F - R

23:36 - Shit - S - F

23:38 - Fucking - C - F

23:42 - Shite - C - F

23:43 - Fucking - A - F

23:44 - Fucking - A - F

23:47 - Arse - C - F

23:53 - Fucked - S - F

23:54 - Bitch - C - F

23:55 - Fucking hell - S - F

Day 3 - Laughing

I wanted take a day to focus on my mood and keep track of how often I laughed.

Scale of laugh:

1-5 (5 being extremely hilarious and 1 a slight chuckle)

Reason:

F - Deliberately funny (intended to be funny)

A - Accidentally funny (something that was not intended to be funny)

Type of humour:

J - Joke

C - Casual (conversation or comments)

Who:

F - Friend (friend made me laugh or I laughed at them)

S - Stranger (made me laugh or I laughed at them)

M - Me (I said or done something that made someone else laugh)

11:08 - 1 - F - S - J

12:25 - 2 - F - M - C

12:27 - 3 - F - F - J

12:38 - 2 - F - F - C

13:29 - 2 - F - M - J

13:34 - 2 - F - F - J

15:10 - 3 - F - F - J

15:15 - 4 - F - F - J

15:27 - 3 - A - F - J

18:01 - 1 - A- F - J

18:05 - 1 - F - F - C

18:05 - 2 - F - F - C

18:09 - 3 - F - M - J

18:13 - 2 - F - S - J

19:10 - 3 - A - M - J

19:20 - 3 - A - F - J

19:40 - 4 - F - F - J

20:25 - 5 - A - F - C

20:40 - 5 - F - F - J

20:46 - 4 - A - F - C

21:30 - 5 - A - F - J

Day 4 - Physical Contact

I decided to track physical contact as it was something that would happen a lot at work whether it was accidentally bumping into someone or hugging a colleague.

What I tracked: