Data Portrait

Reflection

The data I tracked was the frequency of thinking about traveling that triggered by my daily surroundings. Due to the pandemic, I have been trapped at home for nine months. The restriction of travelling caused cancelations of my travel plans, including the plan to visit my families who I have not seen them for nearly two years. As the longer I stayed at home, I become more urging to travel. Everything I see daily would remind me either my past trips or trips I have planed. Thus, I decided to track how many times I think of traveling caused by doing different activities.

After a week of tracking, there are nine categories that triggered me to think about traveling， and I count the frequency under each category.

I visualized the data using the logo of plane with its flying path for each category. The longer path represents the higher frequency of thinking travel triggered by certain category.

Self-tracking helped me make self reflection intentionally. I never expected I would think of traveling 51 times over a week and it made me question why I am so into travel. When I was in college, travel was a way to escape from school works and hung out with friends. But now travel has much more meaning than that, it means the reunion to people or places I have not been met for a long time.