Click on link for larger version.

In my previous commentary, I noted the rationale for the creation of a primary document, a transcript of the conversations in a facilitated meeting. This transcript captures the sense, if not the exact words, of what was said, when and by whom.

What can do do with a transcript once you have one?

Primary documents support the subsequent analysis of the meeting, facilitating a significantly more fact based decision making process. We are very much “into” fact-based communications… as it can bring a clarity to the dialog. Several others in The Canoe Group have discussed this in previous blog entries.

Since group meetings have a life of their own that is completely unlike normal discourse, I want to elevate some of these differences to a strategic perspective by demonstrating one tool we use with our customers, the creation of a “word cloud” through wordle.net. It is also known as a “tag cloud” when it is used as a graphic on a web site.

A word cloud is an analytical tool that takes a frequency distribution of “normal” words and arranges them (with a fair amount of control) in a graphical layout. The more frequent the word, the larger it is proportionally in the cloud. Common content, like articles, punctuation and conjunctions are eliminated.

There are good ways to use wordle and ways that are “cheating”. Since many people were able to watch the Vice-Presidential debates, and the transcripts were immediately available afterwards, it is useful to compare Senator Biden’s word distribution to Governor Palin’s. (Click on either of these links to open up a comparison of these word clouds.)

What is clear from the wordle is that Senator Biden used a more disciplined repetition of a specific set of words than Gov. Palin. While there was a fair amount of snark in some of the political blogs about Gov. Palins favorite word being “also,” the accusation is supported in the transcript. Indeed, the experience of the debates was represented in the word clouds, with Gov. Palin tending to string together concepts (thus the frequency of the word also) and Senator Biden hammering on a small set of words.

The comparison is also a form of cheating. A formatting difference in one of the settings in wordle is exposed: Palin’s cloud has a normal setting for the arrangement of the words which looks more jumbled (i.e. chaotic) than Biden’s. While this is merely a wordle setting, like color and font, the comparison of word-clouds can be obscured unless a similar formatting is used.

On to a word cloud about civic engagement. A long-term customer hired us to have a group conversation with 22 civic leaders an afternoon in September. We asked a set of questions concerning how civic engagement happens in Oregon:

• how it has changed over the years,
• what are the effects of technology on civic engagement today, and
• how can it be improved to make a more livable state.

Heady stuff.

If you look at the smaller version of the image above you see the money words: Civic Engagement, People, Community.

While the conversation sparked a lot of preliminary discussion, it was clear that the precision with which these words are defined (and others visible in the larger version) is critical to help further the conversation.

Another example. In a recent day long planning meeting, I was able to take the morning transcript and create a wordle before the lunch break. I then presented the word cloud on a large screen at my workstation. Over a third of the 25 participants came up to examine closely the wordle. They were interested in such questions as “Who was talking the most?” and “What were the really big themes?” both of which could be answered from the wordle. I couldn’t help but think the afternoon dialogue was informed by this visual representation.

There are other on-line resources for data visualizations. One hosted by IBM allows for word clouds of two-word pairings and other data visualization tools that incorporate the exploration of the data in the graphic itself. We see this process as one that will develop over the next year as we test and integrate it into our formal group processes.

My next blog will talk about integrating these communication tools into a web presence and (hopefully) answer the question as to whether interactive web dialog supporting an event is a technology of the future or the technology of the now.