The start of a new year is a time for reflection, introspection, and planning for many – for Dan Meyer, it marks the release of his personal annual report. Comparing the practice to journaling and blogging, Meyer tracks small occurrences of his daily life – number of cups of coffee, number of text messages, hours of television – collecting them in a spreadsheet to be turned into an illustrated annual report each January.
The trend, which is now followed by many other data enthusiasts, began in 2005 with Nicholas Felton’s first personal annual report. By 2011, Felton had caught the attention of Facebook, who hired him to assist in the Timeline design.
To make it easier for others to create their own annual reports, he and co-creator Ryan Case launched Daytum, an online tool that helps users collect daily data which is then turned into an infographic. Felton believes “the Annual Reports have encouraged a desire among readers to discover similar things about themselves.”
Among the information tracked using Daytum is the life of a dog, baseball stadium attendance, and the life of a couch. Others, like Bit.ly software engineer Jehiah Czebotar, take a more complex approach, using Google, Mint, Foursquare, and other applications in their data collection.
To start your own data collection – and perhaps launch your own Annual Report, you can start using Daytum here for free. To keep your privacy while tracking coffee cups and key strokes, however, you’ll have to spring for the Daytum Plus version. If you’ve ever wanted to see your life as an infographic, this may just be your chance.
(Story and Image via Mashable)
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