14 January 2009

Life is in the details

So there's this guy, Nicholas Felton, who's been releasing his yearly "Feltron Reports" since 2005. It details in exquisite, well, detail, what he's been doing all year. It's life documentation at a super high level. It seems like he tracks everything he does, no matter how minute (average pocketchange collected each day, proper house cleanings, drinks enjoyed with company, iTunes tracks played, you get the idea) and then generates this neat looking package filled with numbers and graphs. It's some serious stuff. While I could hardly imagine this sort of thing being useful or all that interesting to anyone else (unless you were famous I guess), it does take my idea of a life spreadsheet to a whole new level. Well, a whole new universe actually.

Felton is a graphic designer and according to his bio, "spends much of his time thinking about data, charts, and our daily routines." The site that he's a part of, Daytum.com gives users the tools to track all of the things he does, allowing us to turn an infinite number of narcissistic mirrors upon ourselves. Awesome right? Daytum is in beta right now and I found out about it too late to get an invite at the start of the new year but when I get in I'm going to start tracking my minutiae too because it's a totally pointless project and thus right up my alley.