Statistics is about learning from data.
But as we begin to examine large, dynamic systems like telecommunications networks, it is difficult to manually identify meaningful structures and patterns through simple visual interrogation. In general, advances in data collection and computing technologies have made routine the passive accumulation of enormous data sets that call for new methods of analysis. Anything we can do to enhance our experience of data, making it richer or more expressive, offers the possibility of forming new insights. In some sense, Ben and I are attempting to make that happen, literally. I want to create opportunities for sensory encounters with these electronic records, provoking questions as to the shifting boundaries between our public and private lives.