{"id":24653,"date":"2026-03-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nightingaledvs.com\/?p=24653"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:43:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:43:53","slug":"the-tiles-that-made-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nightingaledvs.com\/the-tiles-that-made-me\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tiles That Made Me: Mapping Friendship through the Lens of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the Oxford Dictionary, friendship is a “voluntary, personal relationship characterized by mutual affection, trust, and support.” Whereas to me, friendship involves authenticity and a trustworthy partnership that involves fun, kindness, and understanding. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the size of the smile on your face when you see someone. It\u2019s the decision to stay in touch with a niece long after family events end. It\u2019s the fragile silence between you and a friend who couldn’t support a recent life choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a data designer, I\u2019ve always been obsessed with how we categorise the intangible. Recently, I set out to map the people who have shaped me. I didn’t want a balance sheet, but I did want to see the patterns. A relationship always evolves; this would only represent a snapshot in time.
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The Taxonomy of Connection<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I began by listing every person I care about. First from memory, then verified by my friends list on Facebook. But as I opened my spreadsheet, the questions started to flood in. Can family members count as friends? For example, my nieces and I have been chatting nonstop for years now. We grew fond of each other through the circumstance of birth, but we stayed in touch by choice. Does that make them friends? And what about friends who aren\u2019t supportive of my life choices? We were very close 7-8 months ago, but we are not now. Are we still friends? If I exclude her from this, does that mean I have given up on our friendship? Also, I use the term \u201cfriend\u201d very loosely. I am naturally familiar with strangers. Is my new neighbour \u2014 with whom I have shared a few cups of tea \u2014 my friend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make sense of the friend list, I distilled friendship into three core metrics, scored on a scale of one to three, three being the highest rank possible: <\/p>\n\n\n\n