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Wordles

Page history last edited by Doug Peterson 14 years, 6 months ago

Hmmm...  What's he really saying?  What's the thrust of any particular piece of text?  There used to be a time when we would play record albums backwards to determine the message.  With the proliferation of web content, comes tools to help analyze this content. 

 

Wordle is a simple, but powerful, method to analyze the text content of a message, essay, web page, speech, ...

 

In fact, any text that you can select and copy/paste is ripe for a Wordle analysis.

 

It's also great as an analysis tool for media literacy.

 

Creating Wordles are easily done if you have the ability to have a couple of windows or tabs in your browser open at the same time. 

 

On the heels of the VMA awards, let's analyze one of Taylor Swift's songs.  Her song "Tim McGraw" has the lyrics posted here

 

1)     Visit the webpage with the lyrics - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/timmcgraw.html

2)     Highlight all of the text and copy it

3)     Go to the Wordle website.  http://www.wordle.net

4)     Choose the option to Create a new Wordle

5)     Paste the text in the box that says Paste in a bunch of text: and click on the Go button

6)     There's your Wordle!  Not the effect you're looking for?  Click Randomize for a new effect.  There are also options available from the pull-down menu that let you customize your wordle on the fly.

 

For fairness, let's see what kind of message is delivered in Kanye's song "We Don't Care".  Using the same steps as above at http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kanyewest/wedontcare.html reveals

 

 

A difference?  Can we analyze these two songs for a deeper meaning?

 

How about in the classroom or a staff meeting?  The premise is very simple.  The more often a word is used, the larger it gets.  It's a histogram in disguise.

 

Could we analyze a memo from a superintendent?

Could we analyze any of the world's great speeches?

Could a student in a writing activity determine if they are using a word too often?  "Like, ummmm"

Could we create a "School Wordle" with every student's first name appearing?

Could we create school T-Shirts based upon key concepts that we believe in?

Could we ...

 

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