Thing 13 is REFLECTION. Write a post reflecting on your 13 Things for Writers experience. Please write a meaty post--multimedia if possible--reflecting on the following questions:
Did this turn out to be what you expected when you started?
Were you already familiar with any of these "things"? For example, did you already have an online bookmarking account? Or were they mostly new?
Did your Wordle of your blog give you any insights?
Which was your favorite post?
Did you discover anything new that could be helpful in your day-to-day activities?
Did you discover anything new that you think you might use in your Life After Coe?
How did you feel about "self-discovering" as opposed to having specific due dates created by the professor?
You've probably seen word clouds on various websites. They make a visual image of the words that are used--on a particular website or in a particular document. Words that are used most often become more visually prominent--they're BIGGER. This can help you see which themes are repeated most often.
Often, we can get some great insights from looking at word clouds. For example, look at these cool word clouds of presidential inaugural speeches.
Word clouds can be made using the website Wordle. Luckily, you don't have to create an account or pay to use it. You'll just need to save it to the "public gallery," where your word cloud will get its own URL and embed code. Here's the word cloud for 13 Things for Writers:
(Sadly, these images don't have very good resolution. They'll look MUCH better for you when you make yours on the website!)
You can also make a word cloud of any document. Here's Gorgias's "Helen" speech (if you've taken Rhetorical Theory, you may remember it!) I just copied the text from a website and pasted it into the Wordle box.
I couldn't resist comparing this speech with Socrates' long discourse on "rhetoric" and "flattery" from the dialogue we read in Rhetorical Theory.
Isn't it interesting how "Body" is bigger in Socrates' explanation? "Soul" is in both. And the word "persuasion" never comes up in Socrates. Hmm. This helps me see the two rhetoricians in a clearer way.
If you haven't taken Rhetorical Theory yet, it's offered this fall!
Here's another word cloud of this blog, an interactive one, made with a different site, Tagxedo.
Watch what happens when you scroll over the cloud. For your 13Things blog:
Create a word cloud of your 13 things blog and embed the code into the blog. Just put the URL of your blogspot address in the box on the Wordle or Tagxedo site. Save (or "share" for Tagxedo) and copy the html code (i-code for Tagxedo) and embed on your blog's Thing 12 post.*
Then copy and paste the text of something else into the site's text box--something you've written, or a text you've become familiar with recently. When you get the word cloud, save it, and embed the code for that into your blog, too.
Now reflect: Did these word clouds give you any insight about the documents/sites? Which words are most prominent? Did this visual representation of words bring any thoughts that you didn't get from reading? How might you use this in professional life? Or is it just a fun toy?
*Don't forget to switch to HTML before you copy in the embed code--that's little rectangular button at the top of your blogger post.
The word is right there on the tip of your tongue...but you just can't make it come out! You've got lots of other words that mean something close...but just not the right word.
You need a visual thesaurus. A visual thesaurus shows you all the synonyms to your word, plus, with a click of the mouse allows you to drill deeper into one of the related words, and then see all of the synonyms to THAT word. Somewhere in that exercise, you'll find the perfect word.
The Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is actually a commercial tool, with a limited free interface. Even with it's limitations (you'll have to click "try" when you first start, and you'll be limited to a handful of drill downs) the tool is rich. Enter a word you'd like to explore, and you'll get a pop up application with all the related words, plus definitions of your original word. It totally appeals to my inner word nerd.
Click any of the related words, and get a new view. You can print with the free trial, but you won't be able to save your word searches or share them. A membership will cost $19.95/year. Also worth noting is the information included on the main website: a word of the day section, a blog feed written by writers talking about writing, featured word lists, lesson plans and more.
Other visual thesuarus tools to try:
Visiwords: very similar to The Visual Thesaurus, but not quite as robust: you don't get the drill-down functions, and you'll have to decode the color codes to determine meanings based on word type (nouns have a purple background)
Lexipedia: again, very similar in visuals, but this one, in my humble opinion, is a bit easier to read than Visiwords. I like this one the best. Mouse-over tips help you decipher color coding, and you can show or hide different word forms (keep nouns, hide verbs when applicable).
The benefit that both Visiwords and Lexipedia have over The Visual Thesaurus is that they are free (open source).
Post on your 13Things blog:
Choose a word or two from a recent post, and enter them into the visual thesaurus of your choice. Do you come up with any useful alternatives? List the words you like best, along with their definitions.
In general, do you use a thesaurus when writing? Have you ever had any problems using one (for example, you found out later that the word you chose wasn't exactly what you had in mind . . . )
Play around with the thesaurus for a while and see if you discover--or rediscover--any great words. Sometimes simple ones are the best. Try: say, play, word, table, time . . . Share a couple words you searched and a couple synonyms you found. And/or comment on the connections between words.
Have you ever found a great photo on the Web and used it in your own PowerPoint, on your blog, or even in a print publication you were making?
Did you feel guilty about it?
We're not technically supposed to use someone's work without their permission, but getting permission can be time consuming, and besides, what if the creators don't mind?
The people at Creative Commons have given creators of original works an option to give their works a Creative Commons license. This license allows people to use their works, always with attribution, sometimes with other optional stipulations.
Watch the videos below:
Now visit the Creative Commons website for an overview of the CC philosophy and the different licenses creators may choose for their works. Also, CC licenses aren't just for photos: they can be used with video, music, writing, scientific research, anything that would normally be covered under a copyright license!
I've been amazed at how often I see the Creative Commons license now that I'm aware of it.
Post your thoughts about Creative Commons. Does CC seem like a good idea? Think about projects you've created while here at Coe . . . and your blog. What projects--or aspects of those projects--would you LIKE to share with other writers--for them to "remix and reuse"? Are there any writing projects you've created that you would NOT want to share?
Next time I have a large writing project to work on, I'm going to use Scrivener. It's an online word processing program and helps writers manage and organize writing projects.
For Thing 9, I'd like you to have a look at this powerful tool for writers. I don't usually promote tools that cost money--it costs $40 for a subscription to Scrivener--but this tool has some interesting ways for writers to organize their work. It also has an awesome 30-day trial. It's 30 days of use, so if you use it every day, you can use it free for 30 days. If you use it twice a week, it'll last 15 weeks.
That could be very useful for students working on a project during a semester.
Some of you may be working on a big writing project for this class or another class. Would Scrivener be helpful for you?
First, take a look at the video overview of Scrivener. The examples used are fiction, but you can picture how you might use it for a class paper, an extended essay, or even a long journalism piece. I have a good friend who uses it to write plays.
This is the Scrivener Video for those of you who use Windows:
