In my last post I talked about using the principles of information design to convey the meaning behind statistical data in a clear and compelling way. One way to visually represent textual data is called a "word cloud," which some of you might be familiar with because it's used to represent the popularity of different tags on sides like Digg.com. Mostly just for fun, I recently used Wordle.net to create two images. The first image represents more than 3,000 responses to a survey question that asked people for the first words that came to mind when they think of the animal protection movement. The second image shows all of the words contained in the last six months of these blog posts.
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The first image below is drawn from a research study HRC conducted several years ago on behalf of the National Council for Animal Protection (NCAP). The underlying data are available only to NCAP members, but the word cloud below gives you some sense of people's thoughts. People were asked to list "three words or terms that first come into your mind when you hear the term 'animal welfare movement.'" For a third of the respondents, the term "welfare" was used; for another third the term "rights" was used; and for the last third the term "protection" was used. Following is the result in word cloud format. Click the image for a larger version that will open in a new browser tab or window, depending on your settings.
While the above image could potentially serve some analytical value, this next one is really just for fun. This is drawn from the complete text of my twenty-something blog posts written over the past six months. Note that the image generator excludes common words like "and" and "the," which makes it easier to focus on the more important words.
To make your own word clouds, whether for research or entertainment, visit Wordle.net. If you make an interesting animal-related word cloud, please post a link to it in the comments section; log in and click the "add new comment" link below.