How might your collected data influence your decisions or actions later on?
Here are some of my highlights from the Nov 14, 2024 workshop:
Kit made a wearable data tracker using beads for mood tracking that allows for two different moods to be tracked at the same time, because feelings are complicated. They added a reminder that we should be inclusive of the whole range of emotions without bias.
Elisabeth was curious about supporting library staff to track their feelings during work, and wondered about how to share it anonymously since this can be a vulnerable type of information. For youth, it could be fun to collect data on snacks, the cost, the dopamine rush, and whether it was all worth it in the end.
Stephanie sneakily suggested asking youth to track how much they see their parents on their phones, and connecting it to feelings and the desire for attention and connection.
Victoria and Hannah liked that the pocket data collector and wearable data collectors are analog and can be artfully and visually appealing compared to spreadsheets, in addition to keeping our data private.
Amy came up with a few ideas, one on adding a “Data Detective” element to a spy program, and reframing summer “reading” program as summer “learning” program, using pony beads as data trackers and a way to market.
I really appreciated many of you thinking about correlations between different factors and the issue of tracking personal data. Some questions that came up included:
If we start our day ‘right’ does that really make a difference for the rest of the day?
How might we add to or improve the experience of tasks that feel tedious?
How might we track eating habits in a way that it does not lead to eating disorders?
Yes this is a new interactive zine. It has some of the same information as the original zine, with a grid for 4 of the zine pages. You can download it from the Data Gems activity page, in the pink box that says Pocket Data Collector. See screenshot below. Enjoy!
Thank you, Ada! I also found the re-mix this Zine so you can remove or add sections.
I am going to figure out how to make this work for next summer 2025’s programs.
Our library district is planning for Summer Reading Program. They have decided to call it Summer Learning Program. They are looking for a way for patrons to participate in summer reading program. I am going to suggest Data Gems. I’m still sorting it all out. The theme is colors. I was thinking each different color pony bead could represent a different kind of learning. For example, red = reading, orange = art , yellow = engineering, green = science, blue = technology, purple = math. Patrons can try all types of learning and collect multicolor beads or if patrons have a favorite category they can collect beads of one color.
AND our library is seeking patron input for what types of programming our patrons want. I think looking at their data gems could help inform us.
We’re doing Data Gems at two branches next year. One will be a freeform program (give members a few prompts and let them go from there), but the second revolves around our town’s centennial celebration. All credit goes to my brilliant coworker for this idea:
Have members make trackers counting how many town landmarks they’ve visited. Because we have somewhere between 50 and 60, I may suggest people narrow it down to 10 or 20 - any number they feel is doable (though I won’t discourage visiting all of them - it’s like Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all).
I believe it was Victoria who also suggested using pinback buttons as data trackers with string and pony beads. I adore this idea and, since we have a button maker, I’d love to integrate this into our makerspace program next year.
Lastly, with our summer reading program, we can gamify it to see how many books one can read over the summer. We can have members set a goal and move the tracker down the line as they read.
With this approach (and all others), I feel it best to explain that it’s okay to not hit your goals at the pace you thought you would. Progress isn’t necessarily linear, and you may miss a day/book/landmark or two. Or three. Falling behind doesn’t make you a “failure” or “bad” - life happens when you make other plans! Just get back up and keep going! No one will know but you
There were some things that I didn’t color, and those were mostly work-related. Does it mean I was more focused on reasoning than feeling?
Many of the pink items (play and crafting) are also colored with yellow (joy), but not always.
I like ending my days feeling calm, but so far, with very little data, it looks like weekends tend to end in calm rather than weekdays. Maybe the dreariness has to do with a combination of work and social exhaustion. Or perhaps, how much I move my body.
I thought that maybe if I started my day with green, that would end in blue. Or if I had more pink and yellow, it would end it blue. But that wasn’t always the case.
Even with just 10 days of collecting data, I feel like there’s so much here to analyze, which is both fun and thought provoking.
