Nicholas Felton is a leader in the field of information visualization and personal data tracking. He is famous for his Personal Annual Reports, which charted his personal life in detail into beautifully minimal infographics compiled into annual-report format, weaving numerous measurements into a tapestry of graphs, maps, and statistics that reflect the year’s activities.
The 2009 Feltron Annual Report.
The 2009 Feltron Annual Report. Image © Nicholas Felton.
Each day in 2009, I asked every person with whom I had a meaningful encounter to submit a record of this meeting through an online survey. These reports form the heart of the 2009 Annual Report. From parents to old friends, to people I met for the first time, to my dentist — any time I felt that someone had discerned enough of my personality and activities, they were given a card with a URL and unique number to record their experience.
I kept track only of who I gave survey invitations to, the number of the card and where it was given. The surveys answers were submitted via text forms, allowing the respondee to write whatever they desired, and leaving the task of making comparisons between the data up to me. I have used only this information to create the report, however accurate it may be. I have strived to sort and collate the data in a clinical and repeatable manner that could be reproduced by someone looking for the same stories I have selected.
The 2010 Feltron Annual Report.
The 2010 Feltron Annual Report. Image © Nicholas Felton.
The 2010 Annual Report is an encapsulation of my father's life, as communicated by the calendars, slides and other artifacts in my possession.
The 2010/2011 Feltron Biennial Report.
The 2010/2011 Feltron Biennienal Report. Image © Nicholas Felton.
Philip K. Dick claimed that “a person’s authentic nature is a series of shifting, variegated planes that establish themselves as he relates to different people; it is created by and appears within the framework of his interpersonal relationships.” The Feltron 2010/2011 Biennial Report explores this notion by overlapping facets of Nicholas’ behavior to visualize how his personality varies based on location and company.
The 2012 Feltron Annual Report.
The 2012 Feltron Annual Report. Image © Nicholas Felton.
The contents of this report were gathered with a custom-built iPhone app called Reporter. At random intervals each day the app sent reminders to complete a survey. The results of these questions were saved alongside background measurements to form the basis of this document.
