I am really excited about the library's new Wordle contest. What is a Wordle? It is a word cloud generated by the free website Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/). Still confused? Don't know what a word cloud is? Don't feel bad; I didn't know what a word cloud was until very recently.
A word cloud is a graphic way of representing text. It displays the words that are most common in a text. The larger the text, the more frequently the word was used. For example, if I take the words in this blog and place them into Wordle I will get the following graphic:
A word cloud is a graphic way of representing text. It displays the words that are most common in a text. The larger the text, the more frequently the word was used. For example, if I take the words in this blog and place them into Wordle I will get the following graphic:
Neat, huh?
If you are lucky, your teacher might use word clouds in one of your lessons. He or she might use them to introduce a topic, compare articles on the same story, analyze text, or introduce new words.
The library is using word clouds to introduce exciting books and to encourage the exploration of library resources such as the library catalog. Each month the library will create a new Wordle on a popular book. If you can guess the book that the Wordle is representing you can enter the Wordle contest. Just fill out the Wordle contest form and place it in the Wordle contest jar (both located on the corner of the circulation desk). The first right answer drawn from the jar during the Book Happy Book Club meeting will win. The winner will be announced during the morning news show the next day. The Wordle for this months contest is as follows:
If you are lucky, your teacher might use word clouds in one of your lessons. He or she might use them to introduce a topic, compare articles on the same story, analyze text, or introduce new words.
The library is using word clouds to introduce exciting books and to encourage the exploration of library resources such as the library catalog. Each month the library will create a new Wordle on a popular book. If you can guess the book that the Wordle is representing you can enter the Wordle contest. Just fill out the Wordle contest form and place it in the Wordle contest jar (both located on the corner of the circulation desk). The first right answer drawn from the jar during the Book Happy Book Club meeting will win. The winner will be announced during the morning news show the next day. The Wordle for this months contest is as follows:
Wordle is not the only word cloud generator there are many available for you to experiment with. For example check out:
ABCya (link to new webpage)
A simplfied word cloud maker for those new to word clouds
Tagxedo (link to new webpage)
This generator lets you create shapes with the words
Wordshift (link to new webpage)
Basic word cloud generator that lets you click on the most common words and find other words with similar meanings.
I hope you experiment with word clouds and have some fun. Share what you are doing with word clouds with your peers, teachers, and by commenting to this blog.
ABCya (link to new webpage)
A simplfied word cloud maker for those new to word clouds
Tagxedo (link to new webpage)
This generator lets you create shapes with the words
Wordshift (link to new webpage)
Basic word cloud generator that lets you click on the most common words and find other words with similar meanings.
I hope you experiment with word clouds and have some fun. Share what you are doing with word clouds with your peers, teachers, and by commenting to this blog.