Measuring the World¶
During this seminar we examined data and the variety of ways it can be collected, used, and understood. We learned that all data has bias because it is collected by humans, therefore having skewed results, manipulation, or errors. In society we are also currently adding to datasets without consent or knowledge because of the constant input and interaction we have when using the internet. The internet is based on an economy of data where there are levels of closed, open and shared sources of data. Data is just a collection of information, but can be interpreted and used to expose things for progress or be used against people. Although companies are gaining more and more information about us, we have little knowledge about who they are and what they are doing with this data. This course helped show how easily data is collected, can be interpreted, and the difficulties in making holistic sense of it.
We divided into groups and came up with a hypothesis that we were interested in answering through data collection and analysis. Our group was interested in how a space could trigger curiosity and creativity. This being an abstract concept to define made it difficult to narrow down goals and specific measures we wanted to collect. However after having the camera as our tool of collection, we were able to experiment and collect data quickly. Through iterations we made a display that asked a question and prompted people with a QR code. We had a hidden camera that captured how many people interacted with the sign, and had the QR code record the number of scans. We tried this in different settings of the school and coffee shop Itnig. Details on the process can be found in the link below.
This challenge made me more aware of the lack of privacy and constant surveillance we are surrounded by. With using QR codes it showed how trusting we are with these codes that have become part of everyday life. When trying to prove a hypothesis with data, it was easy to make broad claims or assumptions, since complex interactions are distilled to a number. I am interested in learning more about data visualization tools because they are powerful in bringing awareness of an issue or topic. I will be careful in what data sets I use and the claims that can be easily made.
Triggering Curiosity The documentation of our group’s process is here:
https://hackmd.io/6pe4C8EkSCmeJyPlKlmLGQ