Representing 100 years of childhood

Representing 100 years of childhood

At the rate of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day, we have created 90 percent of the data we have in just the past two years. And while 10 percent sounds small in comparison, working with the data of the past presents the same challenges as any Big Data project. You have to consider what to include and what to exclude to come up with the questions, correlations, and contexts that relate to your concerns. They are key to the representation of your data, whether in the form of a report, an inforgraphic, or a physical exhibition.

Some of those essential components were missing in  the  Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.  It’s described as “the first large-scale overview of the modernist preoccupation with children and childhood as a paradigm for progressive design thinking. The exhibition will bring together areas underrepresented in design history and often considered separately, including school architecture, clothing, playgrounds, toys and games, children’s hospitals and safety equipment, nurseries, furniture, and books.”

Granted, it is impossible to show everything. Yet, I question the omission of an American Girl Doll. (The company that produced it was sold to Mattel  in 1998 for $700 million). The line was introduced in 1986 and was considered a significant departure from the Barbie style that had dominated the doll market at the time. These dolls represented girls rather than full-figured adults and offered some historical insight with their accompanying books. When they first came out, the $100 dolls also raised questions about how much parents are expected to spend on toys, something worth bringing up in relation to consumerism.

Of course, people get a nostalgic kick out of seeing the toys and furniture they associate with their own childhoods, like classic wooden and Lego blocks, an Erector set, an Etch-a-Sketch, a Rubik’s cube, a Slinky, and a Barbie house.  Still, the toys should have offered more than a trip down memory lane. While  the exhibit points to the rather obvious cause for the proliferation of toys associated with the space age, it does not explore how other toys were also a product of their times.

Aside from what different types of toys represent, there is the evolution within toy lines to consider.  For example, Lincoln Logs also started incorporating plastic and premade windows into its sets.  Tinker Toys evolved from simple wooden forms to plastic ones that included specialized pieces and set in pastel colors that were marketed to girls. These modifications raise questions about materials, imaginative play, and gender that should be considered in such an exhibit.

Without context and explanations, you just have random items that do not signify meaning. As Jean Aggasiz said, “Facts are stupid things until brought in connection with some general law.” The same holds true for data, no matter how big. 

It's Easy to be Evil

This morning, I was thinking about what I found so upsetting about people who neglect their responsibilities, ignore their deadlines, and fail to pay attention to the duties of their position. Then I remembered some key books that hit on the crux of the issue.

Dickens creates an unforgettable portrait of that type of evil in Bleak House. Harold Skimpole plays the role of the helpless infant who must depend on others because he just can't be responsible. Jarndyce acts generously with him because he sees him as helpless. But Dickens points out that the pose of helplessness itself is manipulative, and Skimpole is quite capable when it comes to scheming. In real life, too, I've found that people who put on the act of being too overwhelmed to remember that they have to get back to you and so cause inconvenience or even serious loss are not truly good at heart but devoid of heart like Skimpole.

To move to the world of nonfiction, in one of his books, M. Scott Peck identifies which of his clients are evil. One of them is a young woman whose preference is to keep driving when her car's gas gauge shows empty. She considers it a game to see how far she could go.But when she really runs out of gas, the burden of getting her mobile again falls on others. While Peck recounts the bad taste of gas in his mouth -- for he had to get the gas out of his own car by first sucking on a tube, he realizes that he is serving someone who is not merely careless but evil, for she demonstrates no concern for the consequences her choices inflict on others.

That's why the title is "It's Easy to be Evil." This is the form of evil that doesn't require the genius type of villain who hatches an elaborate plot to take over the world. That really is limited to the realm of thrillers. In real life, most evil is the result of just taking it easy -- ignoring the warning signs, the fact that someone is waiting for your call back or return email,   doing what you feel like doing at the moment rather than what you should be doing.

It is the type of behavior that makes managers just leave the report you submitted on time untouched for days or weeks and then expect you to turn in a new draft the day they finally bother to say they want changes.  This is the type of behavior that makes the bus driver come late every morning, keeping other people waiting and anxious. They're the ones who have no compunctions about letting down the people who are counting on them.  As a consequence of their neglect, the person who is committed to responsibility ends up looking bad and may even end up losing the job due to the fact that the person they are forced to rely on just couldn't be bothered.  That's the ultimate evil -- causing others to suffer for your own neglect.