Kalyani Tupkary

You make it (somewhat) arbitrary. Divide the world into 24 time zones, and  slowly force people  — often through colonial might — to abide by one, standard time for an entire wedge. Do it in the name of commerce, of travel, of ease of communication, of  ease . Fast-forward a century and a half, and this rational/irrational time is just the way

In the 20th-century office, female file clerks were expected to handle papers — but not to understand their contents.

The sun makes days, seasons, and years, and the moon makes months, but people invented weeks. What makes a Tuesday a Tuesday, and why does it come, so remorselessly, every seven days? A week is mostly made up.

While historical texts have long been subject to critical analysis, the formal and historical problems posed by graphic representations of time have largely been ignored. This is no small matter: graphic representation is among our most important tools for organizing information.*

When I diagram, I start by setting a diagrammatic intention. This provides focus as I research the audience I seek to serve and set the diagrammatic scope that best aligns to those decisions at the diagrammatic scale I am working at.