Census of the Heart
2022
A free event on March 30 2022 | 7pm {Irish time}
“ While the national census asks who we are, Census of the Heart wants to know how we are. We want to get straight to the heart of things and explore what really matters to people living in Ireland today. We want to know how you feel at this pivotal moment in time…”
As the country readies for the State Census 2022, the Census of the Heart team is delighted to announce that Census of the Heart 2016 has found a permanent new home at the National Library of Ireland. To celebrate we are hosting a live event to mark the occasion on Wednesday March 30 at 7pm in advance of Sunday April 03, national census day.
This free event will be a participatory experience. We are inviting people to join us to explore the connections between the data we collect, the national census and our emotional wellbeing. In this age of AI, algorithms and Big Data we want to pay attention to Deep Data and what Brené Brown calls Data with Soul. We are curious to see if what really counts can be counted….
Census of the Heart was an alternative census in Ireland created by Kathy Scott and Mari Kennedy and produced by The Trailblazery in 2016. This alternative online census was a creative response to The National Census of Ireland 2016, coinciding with the precise anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Census of The Heart is a unique repository of knowledge that holds the intimate hopes, regrets, fears and dreams of almost 12,000 people in Ireland in 2016. We are thrilled to announce that we were invited to donate our ‘collection’ to the National Library of Ireland and it will soon be available for all to explore for posterity.
Acting Director Katherine McSharry adds:
“We are delighted to receive this pioneering collection which will share virtual shelf space with our ‘Remembering 1916, Recording 2016’ web archiving project. Our vision at the National Library of Ireland is to share the stories of Ireland with the world, and the digital Census of the Heart collection took the emotional pulse of the nation at a time of commemoration and reflection in 2016. It will support current and future research into life as it was lived and experienced in this country at a significant moment in our history.”
Mari and Kathy will share the story of Census of the Heart and host a conversation with the National Library of Ireland and the Central Statistic’s Office. There will also be space for participants on the call to consider what they might contribute to the new time capsule question in Census 2022.