Project #9 Data Portrait
Description
This is the recording of a personal habit for 7 days. I have this bad habit of playing with my hair such as twirling or twisting, and sometimes even pulling and tugging whenever I feel stressed or anxious.
Design Process
I divided each day into three part: morning (5:00am-11:59am), afternoon (12:00pm-4:59pm) and evening (5:00pm-4:59am). At first I was tracking the specific time each time I played with my hair, but when the number gets bigger, there were just too many data points to deal with. Therefore I decided to just track the number of times I played with my hair within each time period, and I felt like it was enough to reflect my habit. I've also categorized the ways I play with my hair into twirling/twisting and pulling/tugging according to the severity level. As for the sketch, I divided the canvas into three sections, and each corresponds to a time period in a day. I used two different ellipses to represent the two categories of playing, and they are mapped out onto the canvas according to the different time periods.
Reflection
I think this sketch not only visualizes my habit of playing with my hair but also reflects my work habit in relation to stress level in a way. As I mentioned before this is a habit that tends to occur when I'm stressed, and in most cases, this is usually when I'm working on a project. For example, on day 3, I pulled an allnighter working on a project, therefore the frequency of me playing with my hair is significantly higher than usual. The time where there's little to no activity is normally the time I'm asleep, and it is clear that I go to bed too late and the pattern is not regular at all, so this also helps me realize how unhealthy my daily routine can be. The most important thing I gained through this self-tracking experience is that I notice myself playing a lot less with my hair during the process because I was being mindful each time I do it. I'm trying to quit this habit so I might make the self-tracking a regular thing to help myself with it.