note
the frequency graph at the bottom left, which approximates the power-law curve.
Elastic tag maps are just one of several visualizations Moritz created to address some
of the challenges faced by simple tag clouds:
Tag clouds emphasize the popular tags at the expense of interesting but more
infrequent tags.
They sum up tagging activity over time without addressing the dynamics of activity.
They don??™t show the relationships between tags.
To address these issues, you need more sophisticated techniques for tag analysis as
well as better visualization tools (elastic tag maps were built in Flash). You can see
more of Moritz??™s visualizations at http://well-formed-data.net/thesis.
??‹ ??‹ ??‹
NAVIGATION AND VISUALIZATION : TAG CLOUDS 103
104 TAGGING: PEOPLE-POWERED METADATA FOR THE SOCIAL WEB
But think first
Before adopting these solutions, you have to answer a larger question about the purpose
of your tag cloud. Is it merely a gateway to other content? It is a summary of
tagging trends? Or is it the backbone of your navigation system?
Most tag clouds are part visualization and part navigation, a veneer on top of other
navigation systems.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185