15_the_circle | calendar update

[OT from cottage renovations]

this project is inching ever so closer to getting anywhere:

there were lots of candidate images, most of which have appeared in this space with a grovescape tag. though I know which ones I like, I don't have a way to know about the preference of others. in these modern times the obvious way to acquire that information is through a focus group for which I recruited volunteers, primarily from the Grove writers' group.
each image screener received a large number of candidate images with a request to go through them and delete all but the ones they liked the best. by clicking an icon they could then invoke a script to generate a text file containing a list of surviving filenames and return it by email. I did not ask them to defend or explain their choices, just to sift through and select. nor were they asked to come up with a particular number of images.
some screeners reported difficulty with the task -- one emailed that in deleting pictures she felt like she was killing my children -- those I encouraged to come up with a short list and then a final cut and counted the former as a half choice and the latter as a full one. in the aggregate the selections were fairly consistent for a few images and much less cohesive for the remainder.
having put everybody else to so much trouble I then proceeded to follow some of their advice and to disregard the rest in making the final selections. even with the guidance of others some of the choices were not easy but I am reasonably satisfied with how the final list came out and the sequence's thematic progression throughout the year.
as a visual aid in the compilation I put together a crude Excel mockup. though nowhere near something that could ever go out the door it was an adequate first step and has given me the confidence to continue with the effort.

more later ...