Tell better stories with your data

Data Story Telling with Word Clouds

Word clouds are a simple type of visualization which use font size of a word to represent that word's frequency in a body of text. They're kind of gimmicky, and don't offer any deep analysis of the text. They could be useful for understanding what someone might be saying in a series of short messages, such as texting, Twitter or Facebook posts. For example, a data story word cloud of someone's tweets in a given year vs. another. Play with the example below, and you'll find them kind of fun if nothing else. This example was built using the D3 word cloud plugin.

Paste a big block of text below, or just use the current story

Excluded Words:

Word Cloud Display Area

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Tom Wall is a full-stack web developer with over ten years of experience working in technology. In particular, his background covers the areas of data visualization, database programming, and business intelligence. He has a strong problem-solving background with the skills to transform abstract concepts into deliverable solutions. Tom has worked with companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 to small startups, across industries such as insurance, ecommerce, humanitarian relief, and software development. He is the creator of Graphla, a web application that facilitates the exploration and visualization of data though a user-friendly interface. In his free time, he enjoys reading and runs a literary fiction book club. Tom lives in Portland, Oregon.

Some services he offers:

  • Articles that present research via a data story
  • Develop custom visualizations for your apps
  • Data visualizations for the mobile web
  • Create JavaScript chart libraries for your team
  • Training classes on D3.js