Giorgia located in New York and Stefanie living in London decided in 2013 to learn more about each other by becoming pen pals. Every week they would send each other elaborate hand drawn illustrations of their personal data.

Each week, and for a year, we collected and measured a particular type of data about our lives, used this data to make a drawing on a postcard-sized sheet of paper, and then dropped the postcard in an English “postbox” (Stefanie) or an American “mailbox” (Giorgia)!

We prefer to approach data in a slower, more analogue way. We’ve always conceived Dear Data as a “personal documentary” rather than a quantified-self project which is a subtle – but important – distinction. Instead of using data just to become more efficient, we argue we can use data to become more humane and to connect with ourselves and others at a deeper level.

Giorgia and Stefanie have produced a book titled “Dear Data” that appropriately enough comes in two different versions depending on where you purchase it (US or UK).