At Liquid Interactive, we think mental health is a pretty big deal - so when we heard about Spur Projects' inaugural "How is the World Feeling?" (HITWF) DataHack, we jumped on the opportunity to take part, with two Liquidites - Jessica (data analyst) and Jeremy (designer) – given the privilege of joining the DataHack.

“How is the World Feeling?”

HITWF was a global, real-time, mental health survey. Taking place over 7 days in October, participants downloaded the app and logged their emotions across the day, including some information about what they were doing at the time. The data came from over 10,000 people from 104 countries, with more than 56,000 emotions logged during the week.

Taking place over two days at the end of October, the DataHack gave participants an opportunity to delve into the HITWF data, analyse it, and generate potential initiatives based on / addressing our findings.

The Hack

Two days. Twenty participants. A range of backgrounds and specialities, from students to entrepreneurs, analysts to designers, and just about everything in between. This diversity gave us a wealth of ideas, and a hundred different lenses to view the data through. By the end of the DataHack, not only did we have some amazing insights into the data (did you know that 40% of adults who spend mealtimes alone feel sad, anxious, or angry? Or that emotional fluctuations over the day seem to follow similar patterns across the globe?), there were also some great innovations and initiatives generated. No two teams had the same idea – the initiatives were as diverse as the people who created them.

The Experience

As a data analyst with a background in psychology, this DataHack was the perfect meeting of some of my greatest passions. While the tight deadline was daunting at first, Jeremy and I soon realised that our experience as Liquidites was a bonus asset – not only were we used to meeting strict deadlines, we were also completely at ease working with diverse, porous teams that formed and dispersed depending on the skills that were needed as the projects grew. Being comfortable with the environment gave me the opportunity to really enjoy the two days – meeting all the great minds around me, getting to know the data, and creating an end product that the whole team could be proud of.

The DataHack was a great learning experience – one that I’ll definitely be looking to repeat next year!

Photos courtesy of Spur Projects.