8:36pm, a year later
A bit over a year ago, I started a little project called 8:36pm. The premise is simple: to take a picture of whatever I’m doing at 8:36pm every day, for the rest of my life. Notes on inspiration here.
A year later, I can say that the project is still going strong. I missed 3 days somehow, but I think 389 out of 392 is pretty good for a start.
You can browse the full history on my personal blog here.
Why longitudinal studies are awesome
The strength of this project lies in the fact that it’s a lifelong project, and that the longer it continues, the more valuable it becomes. The moment captured on any one day is not that special (in fact, the constraint usually guarantees that it’s “less special” than a picture that I would have normally taken, because in all other cases I am hand-picking moments that I want to save in some way). This project is all about not hand-picking. About capturing what’s actually there when you aren’t editorializing your life.
I wish there were more longitudinal studies that we could opt-in to. Ways to say that we’re willing to check-in every month for the rest of our lives, providing insight into our lives in a way that allows us to find patterns that only emerge when studied in big groups and over long periods of time.
I’m about to start watching the Up documentary series on this topic, that follows the lives of 14 British children from 1964 when they were 7 years old. And then there’s a new documentary about them every 7 years.
The National Children’s Study is another very interesting longitudinal study that’s following 100,000 children from birth to the age of 21.
I wish I could get my hands on some of these questionnaires. I feel like there could be a much looser-organized and funded version of these longitudinal studies online, what with the Internet and all. 8:36pm is my initial toe-dip into the idea.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I haven’t seen the whole thing, but 49 Up (which includes flashbacks to the previous installations) is just phenomenal.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I used to work on longitudinal studies for the Dept of Ed, in particular the Education Longitudinal Study, following kids from middle school on into their adult life. It’s about as dry as you can get, but the amount of information is pretty vast, including all the various forms of the questionnaires.
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ELS2002/
June 16th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Very different motivations and technique, but have you ever seen Brad Brace’s 12hr Project? He’s been uploading a photo to the Internet every 12 hours since December 30, 1994. (But not snapping photos on a schedule.)
http://bbrace.laughingsquid.net/12hr-isbn-jpeg.html
June 17th, 2009 at 1:14 am
i love the up series. i find 14 and 21 especially interesting as they’re entering adulthood and changing so much.