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This started out as a personal project because I am continually shocked at the number of people walking around outside not wearing masks. https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-covid-19-masks-who-is-following-the-rules/
I started the pandemic by tracking men who didn't make any attempt to social distance on the walks I go on with my girlfriend, so this seemed like the next logical step. https://caseymm.github.io/men-who-dont-move/
A few people told me that they'd like to have seen something like this published in the paper, but I thought this particular project was a bit too personal and potentially subjective to some degree.
men who don't move was a pain to update. It was fun, but a lot to manage. I stopped tracking for a while and then became so incensed by the mask wearing behavior I saw that I felt compelled to start again.
This time I decided to track people wearing masks in my neighborhood. The original format was the same as my previous project. Walk around and count people. But this time I made data collection a bit easier by setting up a lambda hooked to a dynamodb that my form fed into.
The data fed into a simple front end that showed the aggregate percentage of people near where I live who were wearing masks correctly.
When I posted about this on instagram, people again said that I should consider taking this more seriously and publishing it for the paper. 
at you @schwanksta
It was a good idea. I'd net a larger audience, get to work on it during work hours, and make it a more legit study.
at you @schwankstaIt was a good idea. I'd net a larger audience, get to work on it during work hours, and make it a more legit study.
I talked to a survey director at USC, wrote up a project plan, conducted a pilot study, roped some people from out team into helping me gather data, and got sign-off to do the project from @palewire and Alex Tatusian.
(conducting a pilot session in Venice)
(conducting a pilot session in Venice)
I could not have done this project without @loelebee, @irisslee, @jenpenned, @VanessaMartinez, @rdmurphy, Alex Tatusian, @palewire, and @a1daylanan, my data collecting heroes 
. They all got to use my very high tech form (jk) that fed into our db.
. They all got to use my very high tech form (jk) that fed into our db.
I'm at about 15 hours of counting people at this point, so I might be a bit maxed out on it, but I would ๐๐๐ฃ๐ to see what results you all get! https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-covid-19-masks-who-is-following-the-rules/#try-it
tl;dr @datagraphics is awesome and most people aren't wearing masks correctly!
P.S. @jenpenned's illustrations are AWESOME and when she dropped this image into our slack channel I knew we had to use 'em in the piece somehow.
