wordling and trip pics
Wordle is a new web tool that lets you take text and make a word cloud image out of it, with the most common words larger and bolder than the less common words. Within the framework of information architecture, this is a great technique for visualizing and thus more easily absorbing the essence of a text. Plus it’s really nifty looking. I tried it out with my own blog’s RSS feed, but it must only pull the X most recent posts because it definitely weighted more recently used words (eg Ramadan) over other words that are used more often but more widely dispersed (eg knit) Also, even though it allows for eliminating common words in several languages (for English: the, and, a, etc) it doesn’t seem to allow for combining words with the same root (knit/knitting, elected/election) for a clearer visual. Here is a wordle I created based on the second presidential debate:
http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/236414/Second_Presidential_Debate
I did a bit of editing on the transcript to remove some common words that were throwing off the results, including names (Brokaw, McCain, Obama, Sen (a common abbreviation for Senator), and some other common words that are just used in spoken English (going, get, got, know). I could have also removed “think” and “make”, and perhaps would have come up with a more descriptive result, but I liked them there. I don’t pretend this is scientific in the slightest.
In personal updates, I just came back from a short trip around Western Turkey, stopping in Troy, Bergama, and the Galipoli peninsula. Here are some pics. Next week Emrah and I are going to Dıyarbakır and Mardın, in Eastern Turkey, I’m really looking forward to that. It’s a good time to go - not too hot, not too cold.
Troy has a lot of layers - civilizations have lived in this location since around 2000 BC.
This is the memorial at Abide (on the southern point of the Galipoli peninsula) that the Turks erected to honor their soldiers lost in the Galipoli battles of WWI.
A cute marina in Kılıtbahir, with an old Ottoman wall and gate in the background.
Roman Empire ruins from the Acropolis, up on the top of a big hill 5km from Bergama.
Typical carpet store, Bergama Turkey.
Ruins from the Asclepion, 2km outside Bergama.
Closeup of a column in the Bergama Archaeology Museum.
