Analyzing Data - 1575 plots

Several months into my first visit to Woe, I started to identify correlations between structural archetypes. Fishing families were more likely to live in a block homes; farming families in vernacular ones. The number of structures within a family compound closely related to the number of generations present. There were substantial number of unoccupied block structures, either incomplete or in disrepair. Block construction and vernacular materials were rarely used in the same structure.

The village was creating a proposal for development funds, and we decided to formalize the observations to include with the application. With a task force of nine recent Senior Secondary graduates, we performed a walking survey of Woe, documenting building materials, characteristics and conditions. Working from the 2001 Census data, we assessed all the built structures based on the respective plot or house number—1575 plots in all. It took us over two weeks to complete, and months to transcribe.

I spent the morning trying to recover the now 12-year-old data.  On the positive side I was able to start coding today. There is something satisfying about analyzing a spreadsheet utilizing conditional formatting to visualize the data. Information isn't biased by a particular aesthetic, but highlighted for quick reads and associations.