Making Room for Creativity

There are two things I miss most about the free time of youth. One is having time to create art. The second is having endless amounts of time to improve my Myspace page, which often entailed endlessly mining other peoples profiles for fancy html code that I could copy and paste into my own profile. Myspace was my first exposure to code and even though I could not read html, over time I gained the ability to dissect the code I was reading and know what parts to take if I liked something on someone else’s page.

While my current job involves knowing SQL, R, and Python - I don’t get to use code creatively. The output is either a statistical analysis or a predetermined chart with limited customization due to the desire to maintain the integrity of the information.

I’ve noticed Saskia Freeke and other artists who are producing digital art, but I was clueless as to how they were making their art. Tonight I decided to dig in and discovered Processing an open source software used to make #generativeart (static, interactive, and animated).

I was pleasantly surprised by the speed in which I was able to pick up the code syntax to create something of my own. I had some help from this Alexander Miller tutorial, but tweaked it to make it my own. His tutorial walks you through how to create a 90s era screensaver graphic, my result is the image I’ve shared in this post. For those interested in making one of their own, I highly recommend his tutorial, he really walks you through the nuts and bolts of the logic behind Processing and the various parts of the code.

Here is my final source code:

---

static final int NUM_LINES = 50;

float t;

void setup() {
  background(50);
  size(800, 800);
}

void draw() {
  background(100);
  stroke(0);
  strokeWeight(3);
  
colorMode(RGB, 100);
for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
  for (int t = 0; t < 20; t++) {
    stroke(i, t, 0);
    point(i, t);
  }
}
  
  //puts point at center of page instead of left corner:
  translate(width/2, height/2);
  
  for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LINES; i++) {
  line(x1(t + i), y1(t + i), x2(t + i), y2(t + i));
  }
  t += 0.35;
}

float x1(float t) {
  return sin(t / 10) * 150 + sin(t / 4) * 25;
}

float y1(float t) {
  return cos(t / 15) * 120 + sin(t / 5) * 40;
}

float x2(float t) {
  return sin(t / 80) * 250 + sin(t / 3) * 30;
}

float y2(float t) {
  return cos(t / 10) * 200 + cos(t / 2) * 25;
}

---

Mapping Time

Time is typically thought of as a measurement, sometimes thought of as an asset that many of us believe is the most valuable thing we have. We are given a set amount in this life and it is physically impossible for any one of us to get more than we will be given. 

Since beginning grad school I noticed that I suddenly put a higher premium on time. Between the stress of school and the flakiness of people these days, I began to notice that I had developed a hyper sensitivity to those who wasted my time. This first year of grad school has been one of the hardest and most stressful years of my life. I started to wonder why I felt like I never had enough time. Why I wasn't able to make time for what I really wanted to do or needed to get done. 

I decided to map my time using Kumu, which is the graphic you see above. This is a simplified map, it only includes work and school commitments, it does not include activities I do for wellness, enjoyment, or self fulfillment. But mapping my professional commitments helped me see why I felt as if I had no time. 

If you want to know what's important to you, find out where you're investing your time. You're probably not investing your time the way you think you are. The priorities you think you've set are probably not the priorities in your actions. Get serious about what you want in this life and how you're going to spend the precious amount of time you've been given. 

Accidental Data Art

Data visualization is often considered the final product. The palatable format in which non-data people can easily digest and consume data. In reality data visualization should be one of your first steps, not the last. Data visualization is that 29,029 foot view of your data. Only when we zoom out can we zoom in. 

Sometimes you have to play around before the visualization is useful or meaningful. Within that process, sometimes you make art. Accidental art is the shooting star of the data world. When it happens, take a moment to pause and appreciate the beauty you've just created.

It's very likely that you're the only person who has ever created that work of art. You were using a specific set of data, with custom filters, based on what you wanted to look at, in the format you thought would be most useful, for your given problem or hypothesis. 

If you're on the brink of frustration it's even more important to pause. Take a deep breath and admire the view the same way you might admire a view while hiking through the mountains. Data visualization is hard. Don't skip the first step where your only goal should be to dig in, get your hands dirty, play around a little, and explore. If you come across art along the way, take a moment to soak it in.