Kevin Karol

21 Jan 2016

Census Americans

@censusAmericans

This is a bot which pulls information from the anonymized data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and composes the facts into glimpses into the lives of individuals.  Although it clearly doesn’t provide a narrative around a character, the way in which certain facts can fit together into a sort of tragedy reminds me of Hemingway’s “For Sale.  Baby Shoes.  Never Used.”  And while not quite as quotable, it feels reminiscent of Studs Terkel’s Working, providing glimpses into the lives of the people that surround us every day, but which we may not be aware of.