Graphic visualization of my life course
In addition to different varieties of a textbased memoir or a photo memoir, I’ve also been thinking of the possibility of graphic visualisations of my life course.
As Walter Benjamin said:
“Suddenly, and with compelling force, I was struck by the idea of drawing a diagram of my life, and knew at the same moment exactly how it was to be done. With a very simple question I interrogated my past life, and the answers were inscribed, as if of their own accord, on a sheet of paper that I had with me. A year or two later, when I lost this sheet, I was inconsolable. I have never since been able to restore it as it arose before me then, resembling a series of family trees. Now, however, reconstructing its outline in thought without directly reproducing it, I would instead speak of a labyrinth.” (Walter Benjamin, Selected Writings, vol. 2, 1927-1934, Harvard UP, 1999, on p. 614).
I guess that outwardly achivements like articles, books, lectures, events and social relations are obvious candidates for visualization, but thoughts and emotions less so.
What kind of visual representations? A tree, like Benjamin’s, or a timeline, or a time-circle?
There’s also the question of choice of time scale units — my age, calendar years, or even Julian days?
There are quite a few timeline apps on the market. This one from TikiToki creates an impressive 3D-animation timeline.
