My Sister in Data: Visualizing an online relationship

Synopsis

My Sister in Data considers the ways in which visualizing personal social media data can reveal new ways to understand human connection in a digital age. The research work incorporates a series of data sketches which are created out of the researcher's Facebook message archives with her sister, and explores how changing time and distance may affect the ways in which Facebook is used as a tool to help maintain their relationship. The dataset spans 8 years’ worth of messages, a timeframe which includes significant changes in both sisters' lives. Using data visualization tools such as Tableau and D3.json, these data sketches speak to a desire to comprehend a changing, technologically-enhanced social world and the relationships contained within it.