Thematic Photographic 367 - Data

Look it up
London, ON
January 2016

A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, we didn't have computers. Or Google. Or smartphones. Or anything remotely electronic, connected or wireless. Or even wired. Man, the bad old days were pretty boring.

Databases were made of paper, and they took up huge swaths of office floorspace. The bigger and taller they were, the more impressive they seemed. Or so that's what we were led to believe.

The tech revolution has, of course, rendered file cabinets, file cards and other forms of physical data management as obsolete as the secretaries and office clerks who once mastered them. Today's databases are virtual, intelligent, blindingly fast and so much more capable.

All well and good, but they don't invite you to explore history like the old paper-based methods once did. Or, still do. Like this card-based system that once served as a catalog of televised video content. Once a staple of local television, I don't think this particular database has been added to in years. Still, I often pause as I walk past and flip through a page or two to remind myself that data once looked and felt very different. No command prompt or blinking cursor will ever be as inviting as these dusty, manual-typewritten pages.

Your turn: This week's Thematic theme is data. There are oh so many ways you can make this real, and I can't wait to see how you interpret it. As always, take a picture that evokes the theme and share it to your website or blog. Leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. Visit other participants, and feel free to share additional themed photos through the rest of the week. If you'd like to learn more about how Thematic works, click here. Otherwise, have fun shooting and sharing!