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Word Clouds for Obama’s, Bush’s Inaugural Speeches
Here’s something really interesting: Mike Volpe’s word clouds allow you to get a visual sense of the content of President Bush and President Obama’s inaugural speeches. Seen side-by-side, you get a feel for how they are similar — and different. (The size of the words is determined by the number of times it was used; larger words were used more frequently.)
I’m not going to share my personal interpretations, or my reactions to the most recent inaugural address. But I confess to being fascinated by the ideas it triggered, and these clouds add another thoughtful aspect to that contemplation.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Fascinating. Where are these from?
March 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Reminds me somehow of the convention of what are called “concrete poems” - i.e. the shapes of words form the idea communicated like a poem about a swan in the shape of a swan. So here is an adult and abstract version of this - like when Realism gave way to Abstractionism in painting/art history. But also the idea that text istelf is visual - what all graphic designers know.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:10 am
A good place for making word clouds is here: http://www.wordle.net/
BR