Classes for the 2025 term have ended. A ritual, before each class, 4 classes per year X 12 or 13 weeks, for the last 4 years or so, has been to start with a warmup, where we chat about data in the world, or tek talk in the world, or with an information souk, mostly about things that either relate directly to the day’s topic, or the theme of the class with the odd whimsy in there for good measure. When term ends, I miss creating this weekly roundup. So Here I am, back to the space, where the early days of open data all started, on DataLibre.ca. I will endeavour to do a bit more of this to get the kinks out in terms of writing and to share, as I must say, all the things we critical data studies scholars pointed out, well, are becoming far too real, and this moment ought to be more overtly discussed, so that we do not forget as we build new data systems, and manage the old, and consider what might happen if we do not govern and protect for the wellbeing of people and sentient beings.

To start, today, I came across a knitting clock, it is not a new piece, but one, that materializes time, and there are no data without time. I was once asked if data have an essence, I still think about that question, the best I can do for now is to say that there are many components and attributes to the whole and the parts of the assemblages that constitute data. There is no doubt, however, that time is one of these components, and of course data are data when they are recorded some how, and the database need not be a computer. So I come back with serendipity and whimsy with this lovely piece by Siren Elise Wilhelmsen and her 365 KNITTING CLOCK.

"365 Knitting Clock stitches time as it passes by. It knits 24 hours a day, one year at the time, presenting the physical representation of time as a creative and tangible force. After 365 days the clock has turned the passed year into a two-meter long scarf. Now the past can be carried out into the future and the upcoming year is hiding in a new spool of thread, still unknitted."

Cheerio

Tracey