This article adapts the ethnographic medium of the diary to develop a method for studying data and related data practices. The article focuses on the creation of one data diary, developed iteratively over three years in the context of a national centre for monitoring disasters and natural hazards in Brazil (Cemaden). We describe four points of focus involved in the creation of a data diary – spaces, interfaces, types and situations – before reflecting on the value of this method. We suggest data diaries (1) are able to capture the informal dimension of data-intensive organisations; (2) enable empirical analysis of the specific ways that data intervene in the unfolding of situations; and (3) as a document, data diaries can foster interdisciplinary and inter-expert dialogue by bridging different ways of knowing data.

本文采用日记的人种学媒介来开发一种研究数据和相关数据实践的方法。本文着重于创建一本数据日记，该日记是在国家监控巴西（Cemaden）灾害和自然灾害的国家中心的背景下经过三年反复开发的。在反思此方法的价值之前，我们描述了创建数据日志所涉及的四个重点-空间，接口，类型和情况。我们建议数据日记（1）能够抓住数据密集型组织的非正式维度；（2）对数据干预情况发展的具体方式进行实证分析；（3）作为文档，数据日记可以促进跨学科学习 以及通过桥接了解数据的不同方式进行专家间对话。