Cryptonomicon via tag cloud
Two tag cloud posts in a row is a bit much, but I had the idea, so I went with it This is an infographic of the word frequency of the text of the novel Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson It’s a really interesting way to visualize texts (as I’ve pointed out before ) So let’s see if I can start a meme Doesn’t have to be a new book, you can pick one from Project Gutenberg …there certainly are enough good books there
Posted 67 days ago
from
Pattern Recognition
Responses to this thread:
amanda:
The size part seems intuitive to me. The different shadings on this particular variation might be confusing since they don't mean anything (or don't obviously connect to anything).
todd:
it's just a jumble of unmotivated words. it hangs out on some web page and takes up a lot of space, but never really makes any sense. when you click on something you rarely get any value out of it.
todd:
moreover, since the orientation and location of the words is purposefully without structure, it is intentionally hard to use. you cannot easily figure out why words are the locations they seem to be and how to find what you might be interested in.
amanda:
I mostly agree in this case. But I think this particular application is more about design than functionality. I like the del.icio.us-style cloud tags. Ordered alphabetically, all words are horizontal and it gives you a clear and quick idea of the composition of the thing you're looking at.
Chuck:
Wow... I think you guys are thinking way too hard. This has nothing to do with interface, and is more about art. You should try it for yourselves at http://wordle.net/
todd:
chuck: anytime someone says that i'm thinking something through too hard, my reaction is usually that they're not thinking about it hard enough. 
this is about art. and what's the basis for the art? a tag cloud. and what is a tag cloud? a really, really bad user interface design practice that is confusing and hard to use. the art is *designed* to evoke reactions based on the idea of tag clouds. so it is totally appropriate for amand and me to talk about our reactions to tag clouds.
amanda:
Chuck - It is more about art! I'm just defending the application of the tag cloud in general and to try to understand why people hate them so much. The wordle clouds aren't really about tag clouds... they're text porn
jessica:
Being able to view an author's works via a tag cloud is a useful way to shed some light on his or her preferred vocabulary. This kind of visualization would be a good way to look at Shakespeare's plays and other works where people like to study the author's words.
