A chart and some thoughts. That is all.
I’ve had this urge to start a newsletter on data visualisation for a while as a way to commit to start working on my portfolio again. I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, and really like the approach of “putting something out there”. Even if it’s average. The regular act of hitting post and not letting perfection get in the way means things get done, and build towards something bigger. Small, incremental acts are something I’ve been testing out in earnest over the past few months. Flossing my teeth daily, doing any amount of housework, updating my diary and planner each day, doing the exercises my Physio has given me to strengthen my dodgy leg. I’ve been building on these small habits each day, and each small action is leading to a bigger outcome. I feel like it’s time to take on something that’s a bit bigger, and been bugging me and making me feel extremely weird. It’s time to jump in and start to build a routine of building on the skills I want and that I can’t build through my day job anymore. What this will actually look like here is not fully formed in my mind, and that’s OK. The act of doing will help work out what this newsletter actually is. All I know is I want it to help me feel engaged in what I do, to build the skills again that I feel I’ve lost, and get a portfolio of new work together in case I need it at short notice.
I’ve been trying to pin down what I would do each week in a newsletter to do with data visualisation and conventional wisdom says “look for a data set on a topic you love and it will flow out of you”. I’m not sure about that. This leaves things too open, too wide. Maybe I love too much stuff, or I can’t find the perfect data set to reflect the love I have for certain topics. If I think about data sets that I have worked with in the past, and that I still feel I could open up and jump right into with enthusiasm, they are ones that I’ve just really got stuck into and mucked around in. I’ve searched through the contours, felt the shape of different areas, been surprised by aspects, found interesting angles etc. These are often, to be honest, ones that I have been paid to explore, document and visualize. They have not been topics that I would have naturally associated with myself or my personality. I grew to love them because of the time I spent with them. Maybe I can dig up some of these old gems to get started? The main point is that any old data set is going to do. It’s the work behind getting the data into a visualisation that I want to focus on.
I had an interesting chat with a friend who also works for the same organization as me, but not in the same location. We had a lovely catch up when I was at her location this week. We talked about the different parts of our roles we liked, and others we found challenging. I shared that I enjoy the people I work with and parts of what we do together, but ultimately it’s not the work I want to be doing. We spoke about the potential of having side projects that we can work on to maybe sate that desire to be doing other things, but the things I want to be doing outside of working hours are more hands-on things like sewing or knitting, and to avoid sitting in front of a computer. Doing some sort of 100 days of Code challenge sounds more like torture than something I want to do in my spare time, which also makes me sad. I really like making data visualizations. I like creating ones that challenge me, and build and stretch my skill set. I love that feeling of zoning out and in, and being immersed in a topic and a design. To sit and expend that sort of energy after long and draining days in the office though, honestly chills me. But if I want to do more ‘exciting’ work, is this what I’ve got to do? So how do I make it seem less like a second job?
I’m realizing I am feeling “de-skilled”. I don’t think it feels the same as being burnt out, which is what I originally worried I was feeling. My grandmother died last month, and I was very close to her. I have had a strange and empty feeling about parts of my world since then, and my job is one of them. I feel that I am “dumber” than I was when I started it. I look back on some of the visualisations and projects I’ve worked on in the past and the underlying code and think “holy shit - that’s great. And I don’t remember how to do that anymore.” It’s a weird feeling to realize how much I’ve let myself become de-skilled over a few years, and it’s a feeling I’d like to wriggle myself out of.
So to round it all up. The purpose of this newsletter is…
1. Just to make a start. I’m stalling because I’m daunted and tired, and it feels really hard.
2. Jump start my brain. I want to get over this feeling that I’ve slumped and stalled. I want to build up my knowledge and skills and excitement about data visualisation again. I want to feel strong and also joyful about it.
3. Get a portfolio of work going. I will use this as well to pull together some recent work I can show people if I need to at short notice (paranoia about being made redundant again is real! Ha ha!)
4. Bring something interesting to you each week. I hope to bring some interesting factoid to you each week. It may be something that you can use at pub trivia. It may see you investigate a topic further. It may make you see something differently. It may just reinforce your world view. Hopefully you won’t be bored.
I will be publishing a visualisation each Monday. It may be basic. It may be elaborate. It may look beautiful. It may look terrible. It may be something I’m really proud of. It may be something that I’m not happy with at all. I’m hoping that it will get better and a little bit easier each week. I imagine these pictures I send to you will be pretty basic and rough. I feel like I’m learning to walk again to be honest which is a weird place to be coming from at this stage in my career, but this is where I am at, but I know that I can pick my self up and take a stride, as long as I make a start.
If you subscribe, thank you so much. If I know people are watching then I’ll be more likely to commit to this. At the moment I have a basic account so you can’t leave a comment, but if I get a few subscribers then I may upgrade so you can and tell me how well I am doing - ha ha!
(I am also learning about the buttondown platform as I go along. This may not look very exciting to start, but I commit to making this as nice as an experience for you as possible)
This newsletter was created on Gadigal Land. Just up the river from where I live, pictures and marks were made on rocks to share stories about the world with others, and they were put there tens of thousands of years ago. I want to acknowledge that this tradition of story telling and using images to communicate and pass on information is nothing new - and the Custodians of this unceded land were here, and doing it first.