This is a response to “The Database as System and Cultural Form: Anatomies of Cultural Narratives” by Christiane Paul.

The main focus of Paul’s paper is the idea of Database Aesthetics and how there are a multitude of ways for artists, designers, and programmers to interpret data (in databases) and reorganize them in creative and interesting ways. In designing the front-end visualization, new forms can emerge out of the data and connections and trends may be much more readily be seen. What’s interesting is that while many of the students, including myself, are interested in using data visualization as a means towards the goal of social commentary/illumination of social issues, nearly all of Paul’s examples fall into the realm of data-as-art: searching for interesting patterns and visually stunning structures.