The single most viewed work I’ve ever done is my Youtube channel.
The Internet is an incredible thing. I think it’s easy to get lost in a lot of the negativity surrounding it, the bad that comes from it, the harm that social media can cause. But I’m grateful that I live in a world today where from a small room in my apartment with a couple thousand dollars of gear and a bunch of time I can put things out there that people have now watched a cumulative total of over 1 Million times.
It’s a bit hard to grasp what 1 million views of something I’ve made represents. It’s a lot of eyeballs and a lot of people’s time. I hope it’s time people feel like they didn’t waste.
These videos represent some of the proudest work I’ve ever done in my life so far. I’ve put so much time, effort and thought into those I’m grateful they were seen. However, I don’t believe any amount of thought, effort or time deserves attention. Just because I worked hard on something doesn’t mean anybody has to sit through it. I put so much work in making things I believes were good, that doesn’t mean anybody else would think so. I’ve put myself in a position where these never videos never needed to be watched by anyone. They’re not a job. They’re ultimately me spending a bunch of time making stuff I wanted to. I consider it one of the highest forms of luxury to be able to make things just for the sake of making them. I’ve realised over the years it’s probably the thing I value the most.
Cumulatively I’ve put in more work in the Minds Behind Maps podcast, or my career as a data scientist over the last nearly 10 years than in the 4 videos on my Youtube channel. But the podcast or my professional work are not what has been seen or touched the greatest number of people.
I’ve work in the field of satellite images, maps and data science. A lot of that work is people wanting to have a positive impact on the world, though I feel like to often this world I’m a part of is talking to itself, too deep in the technical rabbit whole or talking a language that no ones understands. This Youtube channel started as a means to explain to my dad what my job was and to share some of the awe I keep feeling about the world. If impact is measured by the number of people affected by one’s work, then 1 million eye balls sounds like a pretty nice milestone for having past beyond just talking to the people within my field. I’m proud of that.
Today I’m grateful for the Internet, Youtube and all the people inhabiting both. It’s a bit strange to realise that the last 15 years of my life have been predominantly lived through finding completely different types of communities first online, reading & watching other people’s work, sharing my own and then meeting these same people in person years later. The Internet is a marvelous place I hope we keep maintaining well.
I’m grateful that I can spend time writing on my laptop, recording & editing work that people watched, listened and even more importantly cared about.
I also think the greatest rewards for good work is more work. You celebrate a specific moment, a specific milestone but then you’re back to work, except with a little more people paying attention and wanting to listen. The work itself doesn’t change much. I’m thankful that I’ve also found things that I like doing, where I like the work.
I’m at a time in life where I’ve decided to dedicated more time to working professionally, building what I think is the future of data science at Fused. I deeply love telling stories but I wanted to go be a deep part of one for a while. I have scripts & edits laying around on my laptop because the itch to tell more stories hasn’t gone anywhere and there are so many stories about maps, tech, incredible engineering and life changing discoveries I think too few people know about.
Thanks to everyone who’s ever watched anything I do. Whether people watch or not I’d like to keep telling more stories.