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Data Practice for Stickers And Stamps project
I keep meaning to document the data practices for my StickersAndStamps project. As the project keeps growing, I get behind in writing up my evolving process. Please keep in mind that this work-flow has evolved over the years that I’ve been working on this project.
What happens when you sign up:
1. I use a google form to provide a private way for folks to sign up and send me their postal mailing address, so that I can send sticker and note to them through the US Postal Service.
2. The form entries are automatically saved to a private google spreadsheet, as a function of google forms.
What happens after you sign up:
1. When there are several new signups (20+), I copy the new form info to another private google spreadsheet, my ‘main’ data set. Then I download the updated spreadsheet as a CSV text file.
2. I’ve written python scripts that I run on my laptop to process the downloaded CSV file.
3. One of these scripts takes the downloaded CSV file and generates an easy-for-me-to-read list of mailing addresses. I include the sticker choice, if they want one of my temp tattoos, and comments, so that I know what to include with the note.
3. I print this list on paper, and use it when I hand-write notes and address envelopes for the folks who have signed up. The hand-writing is important…it is a meditation for me, and a special treat for the recipient. We so rarely receive hand written/addressed mail.
4. Then I shred the printed pages of addresses, and recycle the paper shreds.
What then? How do I use your email address?
- When I’ve gotten the letters ready, I send out emails to let folks know their letter has been mailed and to start checking their mailbox. I walk to my local post office and put the envelopes in one of the blue boxes out front. I save the date I mail those envelopes in my main data set (in a google doc).
- When folks reply to my email, I use this email as a search term in my growing google-sheet to search for the request and save the arrival date in my main data set. Fairly often, people reply…
