Viegas, F. B., Wattenberg, M., & Feinberg, J. (2009). Participatory visualization with wordle. IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics, 15(6).
Wordles (http://www.wordle.net/)是一個產生文字雲(word cloud)的線上服務，與tag clouds相似，兩者都是採用字型大小來展示文章中詞語的出現頻率，然而相較於tag clouds按照字母順序排列，而且僅有較單調的(同一色調)的字型，wordles還包括多種變化的顏色與配置，產生的圖形較令人印相深刻，使用者容易陶醉在各種可能的顏色、印刷樣式(typography)與組合(composition)之中。藉由研究網路上的Wordles使用情形和數千個受訪者的調查，本論文探討wordles受歡迎的原因：能展現使用者的創造力。
本論文發現Wordles經常使用在主流媒體(mainstream media)、個人使用(personal usage)和在教育上使用(usage in education)等三種場合。將Wordles在主流媒體上的用途，例如用來比較政治人物的修辭以及提取網路上的使用者生成內容(user-generated content)。許多使用者會將Wordles運用在對他們有意義的文本上，從部落格(blogs)、Twiiter上的內容，到詩詞或歌詞，都是可以輸入Wordles的文本。並且使用者不僅將產生的作品放在網路上與其他人分享，甚至放在T恤、卡片上。老師與學生在課堂上的使用也是Wordles常見的用途之一。
根據4300多位受訪者的調查結果，Wordles受歡迎的原因主要有二：一為Wordles可以讓使用者作為一種創作的工具；其次Wordles產生的設計結果具有吸引人的外觀。許多使用者會充分利用不同的字型、顏色和配置，來創作自己的作品。然而調查的結果卻也指出有明顯比例的使用者不了解字型大小代表的意義。與同樣文本產生的tag clouds相比，有70%的使用者較喜愛wordles，歸納受試者偏好Wordles的原因包括：1. 受到豐富色彩所引發的情感影響(emotional impact)；2. 同時兼具吸引人的注意和較長記憶保持的視覺效果(attention-keeping visuals)；3. 使用者沉醉在Wordles違反許多可讀性的非線性(non-linearity)閱讀上。87%的受訪者想要讓Wordles產生的視覺化效果更接近文本內容而嘗試不同的配置方式或指定字型和顏色。受訪者運用Wordles創作文字雲的主要原因包括：樂趣(fun)、創造力(creativity)、教育目的(educational purpposes)和做為禮物(gift giving)。
本論文引用Jenkins提出的參與式文化(participatory culture)[5]來分析wordles現象。參與式文化中包含「對於藝術表現(artistic expression)和公民參與(civic engagement)有較小的障礙、產生與分享個人創作有較強的支持、以及某種形式的非正式指導(informal mentoring)」等要素。在這種匯流的文化(culture of convergence)中，消費者被鼓勵尋求新的資訊，並且與分散的媒體內容產生連結。參與式文化將使用者展現在新媒體系統上的工作與玩樂一起涵蓋起來，因此綜合以上的討論，Wordles可以視為是一種參與式文化。根據本論文的研究結果，作者認為視覺化工具不應只是依賴於科學風格的資料分析(scientific-style data analysis)，而且也是一種創作工具(authoring tool)，因此使用者(特別是非專業的使用者)不僅只是使用這些工具觀察作品，而是能應用協助他們創作或是將資料混合而重新創作(remixing)的工具。而從觀看工具轉變成創作工具的過程主要有三個關鍵：1. 使用者可以自行選擇喜愛的顏色、配置方式，乃至於分享方式，如此一來，每一個Wordles的作品都是獨一無二的，使用者會對他們的作品更有擁有感(ownership)。2. 每一個作品除了在Wordles網站上有一個專屬的網址，也能夠匯出成為PDF檔案，並且作品都在Creative Commons的法律框架下受到保護，這個機制讓使用者將他們的Wordles作品視為財產，鼓勵進一步的實驗與創作。3. 使用者能將對他們有意義的文本，運用Wordles進行創作，並且分享。
Wordles are close relatives of tag clouds, encoding word frequency
information via font size.
We suggest that a key
message of the Wordle phenomenon is that scientific-style data analysis
is not the only raison d'être of visualization tools.
Our results suggest that
Wordle usage may be viewed as a component of “participatory culture”
(in the sense of Jenkins [5]): a cultural system in which viewers are also
producers and remixers, and where visualization serves as much as an
authoring tool as a method of analysis.
Wordle qualifies as a casual infovis system [6] , since it may be
used by non-expert users to depict personally meaningful information.
However, we will argue that the usage scenarios that we see with Wordle
go beyond the definition of casual visualization in several ways,
especially in the many cases where it seems to function as a remixing or
authoring tool.
In fact, as we’ll argue, the response to Wordle hinges so strongly on
the notion of user creativity that it may be fruitfully viewed in the
framework of Jenkins [5], who discusses “participatory culture.” In his
definition, this is a culture that includes “low barriers to artistic
expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and
sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship.”
Usage in the mainstream media
A favourite
way to use Wordle was to compare the rhetoric of the two major parties.
For example, both the Washington Post and the Boston Globe featured a
side-by-side comparison of the Democratic and Republican candidates’
blogs (fig 2), with the takeaway being that “Obama” was, by far the most
prominent word on McCain’s campaign blog.
Often
Wordles were used to distil user-generated content from the web. The
Guardian wordled the outlook for 2009 as defined by Twitter users, for
instance, while a WIRED magazine piece entitled “Mourning the Internet
Famous: Randy Pausch’s Distributed Funeral” used a Wordle to
illustrate the top 20 most used words in comments from Tributes.com on
the professor’s death.
Personal Usage
Many users created wordles of personally meaningful data. Sources
range from online media (blogs, Twitter feeds, etc.) to poetry and song
lyrics.
One common pattern is for a group of people to find each other
online and create a set of related wordles.
Part of the excitement around Wordle seems to lie in the ability to
take visualizations beyond the Web. Because the site lets users export a
high-resolution version of their creations, savvy users can put wordles
onto T-shirts, cards, and other physical objects.
Usage in education
A striking
number of sites gave extensive tutorials on how to use the tool in the
classroom. (Perhaps one might expect this from an audience of teachers!)
Two main themes emerged from our results: the importance of
design and that the Wordle site works like a creation tool.
Design and visual appeal were overwhelmingly cited as a reason for
users’ interest in Wordle. Not only were wordles attractive, the
design inspired users to engage with the visualization in creative
ways.
When asked which representation was
more effective, 70% of participants felt Wordles were more effective
compared to 11% who found tag clouds outperformed Wordles (19%
of respondents felt both representations did equally well).
Participants’ preference for Wordle can be broadly grouped into
three main categories: emotional impact, attention-keeping visuals,
non-linearity.
87% of respondents used Wordle’s customization capabilities—
either by trying different layouts or specifying combinations of font and
color. ... The frequency
of edits speaks to users’ interest in experimenting with typographical
arrangements that fit their needs.
The fact that users make ample use of font, color, and layout choices
points to a second theme: a feeling of creativity in using Wordle.
At least
within our survey sample, wordles were not passively consumed: 76% of
our respondents said they had personally produced one.
Most respondents used texts they were
already familiar with, with the majority wordling their own writing (table
1).
Finally, the survey included a freeform question where respondents
could elaborate on why they had created word clouds. Four main themes
emerged: fun, creativity, educational purposes, and gift giving.
Overall, younger people (under 20) tended to know the least about
how each different dimension worked, with females doing worse than
male users. One set of answers in particular stands out: word size. 35%
of young males and 49% of young females did not understand the
meaning of word size. Older females too (above 30) did not do so well:
31% did not understand what word size meant.
Terminology aside, it’s worth pointing out two cognitive processes
supported by Wordle that are not directly related to statistical analysis or
insight: learning and memory.
The ability of wordles to assist learning and memory seems directly
related to their aesthetic qualities.
We argue that the feeling of creativity is central to the experience of
using Wordle. Even the examples where Wordle aids learning and
memory include elements of creation.
The activity surrounding Wordle seems to fit Jenkins’ definition of
participatory culture.
The barriers to entry are low, and we see both self
expression and, in the political Wordles, civic engagement.
The system
has technical and legal infrastructure for sharing creations.
Finally, there
is indeed informal mentorship.
The range of
uses, from frivolous to serious, is characteristic of the participatory
culture arc, with more whimsical uses leading to more sophisticated
analysis—the element of “fun” attracts novice users of a system [5], and
helps them learn how it works.
If it is true that Wordle has made the transition in people’s minds from a viewing tool to an authoring tool, one might ask how it has done that. We suggest there are three ingredients: user choice, artifact portability, and remixing power.
User choice: Choice is inherent in the Wordle experience. Users can experiment
with everything from color and layout to ways of sharing. The
implications of such flexibility are twofold: each Wordle has the
potential to look unique, and users are more likely to take ownership of
their work. As our survey indicates, this ownership is a key element in
how people relate to Wordle: by giving them choice, Wordle becomes an
artifact of a participatory medium.
Artifact portability: An authoring tool must be able to produce a lasting artifact. Several
features of Wordle ensure that users’ creations can persist. Not only can
people create a web page with a persistent URL, as is typical of many
online visualization sites, but it is easy to export to PDF. Beyond these
technical capabilities, the legal framework of the Creative Commons
license helps people distribute their creations. This infrastructure
empowers users to think of Wordles as their property, inspiring further
experimentation and creativity.
Remixing power: Everyone has text they care about, whether emails, love letters, or
speeches made by a hated politician. Text is almost never just “data.”
Pointing Wordle to the latest cultural meme, be it a speech by the president or the stimulus bill, and then sharing it, proves a quick and easy
way of engaging in communal and civic meaning-making.
Our study revealed two main
themes behind Wordle’s broad uptake: the importance of design and the
fact that the Wordle site works as a creation tool.
At the same time, our survey revealed some potentially problematic
aspects of the Wordle experience. A significant number of people do not
understand the information encoding in Wordle. Our survey indicated
strong age and gender differences in how wordles were interpreted,
which suggests natural directions for future research. In addition to
testing these findings in a lab setting, one might extend this investigation
to how well the average person understands other very simple charts and
graphs.
