The document discusses text visualization, particularly the use of word clouds and their variations, highlighting their strengths and limitations in presenting textual data. It emphasizes the importance of choosing appropriate visualization methods based on the goal of the presentation and mentions various alternative visualization techniques. Key points include the diversity of information types and the need for visualization to aid in navigating the original data.

1. Text Visualization:
Beyond the Word Cloud
Jeff Clark
February 12th, 2014

2. Map of the Market, by Martin Wattenberg

6. What is Text Visualization ?
Text
Measurements
Visual

7. Wordle, by Jonathan Feinberg

8. Wordle Variations on Same Text

9. play

11. “Word clouds considered harmful” - Jacob Harris
•

12. Strengths of Word Clouds:
•
- People find them engaging
- They communicate the primary topic of a document
- They visually emphasize primary words in a direct way
- Easy to create
- Words are powerful signifiers of meaning

13. Variation: Clustered Word Clouds

14. Variation: Accentuated Word Clouds

15. Variation: Word Spectrum, by Chris Harrison

16. Variation: Shaped Word Clouds

17. Variation: Shaped Word Clouds

18. Variation: Linked Word Association Clouds

19. Variation: Topical/Complex, H. Andrew Swartz, et al

20. •
Alternatives to Word Clouds

21. Code Visualization with Seesoft, by Stephen G. Eick

22. TextArc, by W. Bradford Paley

23. Similar Diversity, by Philipp Steinweber and Andreas Koller

24. Novel Views – Les Miserables

25. Total Interaction, by Magnus Rembold and Jürgen Späth

26. Phrase Maps, by Many Eyes

27. Literary Organism, by Stefanie Posavec

28. Poetry & Limerick Visualizations, by Lee Byron

29. Sentiment in the Bible, by openbible.info

30. Split Bubble Spectrum, by New York Times

31. State of the Union, by Kennedy Elliott et al (Washington Post)

32. Sentence Topic Bars

33. Parallel Tag Clouds, by Christopher Collins et al

34. Document Contrast Diagrams

36. Google Ngram Viewer, by Google

37. The Preservation of Favoured Traces, by Ben Fry

38. Key Points:
- Word Clouds have limitations but can be effective at showing topics
- There are many types of information to show besides word counts
- There are lots of ways to visualize text apart from Word Clouds
- Consider the goal of the visualization before choosing a visual form
- A visualization can be a framework for navigation of the original data

39. Thank You!
Jeff Clark
http://neoformix.com
@JeffClark
Jeff@neoformix.com