Lynn E. Gates used a variety of techniques for this Embroidery piece:
“Metadata librarians take disparate pieces of information from a variety of places and in a variety of formats and bring them together into a whole that can be read and understood by all. In doing this we provide the foundation that our libraries are built on. This foundation allows books and other materials placed on a shelf (physical or virtual) to be found, it allows a user to check an item out and take it home, it allows other library staff to help users, etc. From Chaos to Order uses a variety of embroidery techniques to create a unified whole to show the path from individual pieces of metadata through a metadata librarian’s computer to the library and its users.”
Techniques used: bargello, bead embroidery, blackwork, bobbin lace, hardanger, goldwork and petit point.
Materials used: beads, canvas, cotton thread, felted wool, linen, silk gauze and silver bullion.
While it doesn’t represent data as such, one could imagine doing something similar that takes an individual project or period of time, and quantifies how much the metadata librarian draws from those different sources, and then scale those in the final embroidery.