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everydatum

everydatum as installed in the digital arts research center. A collaboration with Nick Lally, everydatum began as an installation at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We placed a sensor in the Sesnon Gallery to record ambient light, sound, and other environmental data, creating a series of daily visualizations that documented the subtle changes in the space over time.

The everydatum visualization for Sunday, February 8th 2009. Sunday, February 8th 2009

The everydatum visualization for Monday, February 9th 2009. Monday, February 9th 2009

The everydatum visualization for Tuesday, February 10th 2009. Tuesday, February 10th 2009

Photograph of the everydatum book, showing a grid of daily data visualizations. A second photograph of the everydatum book, open to a page with a large, colorful visualization. We compiled the visualizations from February into a book.

The project later evolved beyond the gallery. To make the sensor mobile, I interfaced an Arduino with a Motorola c168i—a gloriously hackable phone that provided a serial interface directly through its microphone jack. This setup allowed us to capture and visualize the sensor's journeys through the world outside.

Photograph of the mobile everydatum sensor, showing an Arduino board connected to a Motorola phone. A close-up photograph of the mobile sensor's wiring. An everydatum visualization created from data captured by the mobile sensor.