Yes, we have seen things like this before, but something about this idea now, or perhaps itās this execution here, made my job drop.Ā
This is a clever bit of code that creates a beautiful object that creates new powers of pattern recognition that creates an assimilable world.
What Jonathan Feinbergās program does for us is roughly what academics do when they pick up a book and start with the index.Ā
The first image is from the post I did last week on "how to be a self funding anthropologist."Ā
The second image is from yesterdayās post on transformational identities.Ā
And the third image is todayās post.Ā I wouldnāt want to have to read the post from the Wordle, but can that day be far off?
There is a general feeling in some circle, see especially Henry Jenkins and Steven Johnson, that we are getting better at reading popular culture, that our powers of assimilation and pattern recognition are growing apace.Ā
All of us do something like this when we look at the index, table of contents, and browse a couple of pages, and make a determination about whether to buy or not.Ā We have not quite read the book, but we have made itās acquaintance.Ā Something lodged.Ā Our cloud of ideas has reshaped a little.
There is something about the beauty of these images and their implicit conviction that the form of the idea is a guide to the content of the idea.Ā How does Wordle know?Ā But it does, and itās knowing aids my knowing.Ā This feels like the beginning of a new order of information architecture and design.Ā
As we get better and smarter, I wonder if Wordle wonāt be the future.Ā Can it be long before we send new blog posts, articles and books to Wordle and read the output?Ā
Hats off to Jonathan Feinberg, a senior software engineer at IBM research in Medford, MA and total genius.
References
Find the Wordle website here.
To an anonymous blogger: hatās off for the headās up
Thanks a lot
the link to the wordle website didnāt work for me.
can you check it and see if itās your link, or my firewall?
The URL problem is that the link it being āpre-pendedā with the address of this page. I suspect that it needs the full āhttp://ā in front of the address so the blog software (or browser) treat it as a fully qualified URL and not relative to the page/site. Hereās the link to the site: http://www.wordle.net
Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/108761/Art_in_the_Age_of_Digital_Reproduction
You know I completely agree with you on your postā¦ except for one thing;
>To an anonymous blogger: hatās off for the headās up
Iād hardly imagine the bloggerās anonymous. It may be true that they write under a pseudonym or donāt disclose complete details of their life. But I find it unlikely that theyāre in the same spirit as a fly-by-night commenter whom you have no way of further identifying.
Why not include a link to them? Why not give them true credit? Thereās no shame in connecting the chains here. I canāt fathom any reason why youād āacknowledgeā them so callously.
Imagine if it were someone building the value chain from one of your posts and didnāt reciprocate? Not only would they be diminished, youād be diminished, and the great interconnected webs we all weave would lose something in the process too.
Jay,
Not to start a flame war, but if youāre suggesting Grant has some nefarious reason for not acknowledging the person who brought this to his attention, youāre barking up the wrong tree. Grant may have misplaced the email, the person may have requested anonymity or there may be another reason. But I know Grant well enough to know heās not trying to roger somebody.
RE: rogering somebody.
And Wordle has been circulating widely enough by now that finding the first reference would be like finding the first wave in a gust over water.
RE: wordle.
I wonder how long before someone creates an add-on for folks to create their wordle cloud representation then one-click the image onto a t-shirt. Iād buy that.
tangential curiousity: whatās the history of the phrase āto rogerā?
This reminds me of Woody Allenās joke about learning to speed read and getting through War & Peace in a half-hour. All he could say was āitās about Russia.ā Does anyone here really think that any of the content of Grantās posts is captured by these word clouds? Cause all Iām getting is āitās about culture.ā
Peter: Hereās what Urban Dictionary says about the verb, to Roger: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=1&term=roger
Iāve always felt it meant to screw someone over.
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
Thanks a lot
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
This reminds me of Woody Allenās joke about learning to speed read and getting through War & Peace in a half-hour. All he could say was āitās about Russia.ā Does anyone here really think that any of the content of Grantās posts is captured by these word clouds? Cause all Iām getting is āitās about culture.ā
This reminds me of Woody Allenās joke about learning to speed read and getting through War & Peace in a half-hour. All he could say was āitās about Russia.ā Does anyone here really think that any of the content of Grantās posts is captured by these word clouds? Cause all Iām getting is āitās about culture..
Ilahin, my notion here, insufficiently expressed was that if we are all getting smarter, and we are, could we look forward to the day where all you need to do is give the paradigmatic entries and their relative weight, and the reader will assemble. Ā But thanks for a great comment. Ā And personally I love that Woody Allan joke. Ā Best, Grant
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
Steven Postrel ā I think you do need some context for these wordles. Hereās how I intend to use them: Take all the words from a client brief and create a wordle, which hopefully will highlight key words for the brand and help direct our thinking in a creative session.
Ilahin, my notion here, insufficiently expressed was that if we are all getting smarter, and we are, could we look forward to the day where all you need to do is give the paradigmatic entries and their relative weight, and the reader will assemble. But thanks for a great comment. And personally I love that Woody Allan joke. Best, Grant
the link to the wordle website didnāt work for me.
can you check it and see if itās your link, or my firewall?
tangential curiousity: whatās the history of the phrase āto rogerā?