data + soul

Maria Popova, the genius behind The Marginalian, says that “Great children’s books are works of existential philosophy in disguise” (2021). This discovery has been one of many new thrills in my life since becoming a mother. Every now and then, when I'm reading with my toddler, I'll breeze through a sentence that leaves me completely floored.

Data + Soul (“data plus soul”) came to me during one of those moments.

We were reading This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations, in which Amy Krouse Rosenthal pieces together life's big truths using whimsical math equations. In many cases, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Here's the set of equations that made me pause.

soul + color = art
soul + words = literature
soul + sound = music
soul + movement = dance

I started to wonder about data, my own medium. In my own evaluation practice, I manipulate numbers/words/coordinates/etc to look for patterns and reveal relationships between things. But data has always been more than spreadsheets - and that’s where the soul comes in. It’s about the relationships we build with people and the ways in which we show up to witness and acknowledge their stories, experiences, and full humanity.

Our team at MXM Research Group strives to always work at this intersection and so, as a nod to the children’s book, we’ve adopted data + soul as our tagline. Since doing so, the phrase has shown up in team conversations in surprising ways. It acts as a reference point when we reflect on process, like “How can we infuse more soul in that data collection process?” “How can data + soul better show up in the ways our team supports our non-profit partners?”

Given its success in transforming our own team’s ways of working in research and evaluation, we’ve decided to launch it as its own project.

<<drumroll>>

DATA + SOUL is a project for anyone curious about working with data in ways that are creative, hopeful, equitable, and full of soul. DATA + SOUL will be the home for our team’s unique approach to evaluation and facilitation, where we share tools and resources to guide fellow data practitioners and users in their practice. We’ll send out a periodic newsletter to share our reflections and updates about what we’re working on. Our first tool, the Data Equity Deck, contains 52 cards that are designed to inspire deep reflection and conversation about data, evaluation, and equity. We’re so excited to share this work with you. You can grab a deck of cards and follow along at Data + Soul (dataplussoul.com).

Photo of page excerpt from This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations by Amy Krouse Rosenthal