TagCrowd: "make your own tag cloud from any text"

I haven't been a big fan of tag clouds because to me they belabor the obvious and aren't a particularly useful way to navigate a Web site, but you may feel differently after checking out TagCrowd. With TagCrowd you can point to any Web page, upload a file or paste text in a box and instantly generate a tag cloud, which you can then embed on your own Web pages.

TagCrowd is taking tag clouds far beyond their original function:

• as topic summaries for speeches and written works
• for visual analysis of survey data
• as brand clouds that let companies see how they are perceived by the world
• for data mining a text corpus
• for helping writers and students reflect on their work
• as name tags for conferences, cocktail parties or wherever new collaborations start
• as resumes in a single glance
• as visual poetry

The list goes on and continues to grow.

Here's one I made using a story on a school lunch price increase by Antoinette Konz in today's paper:

 

affect antoinette beasley board bread breakfast cents children choose costs county crunch cup delivered department district eat elementary extra food force fuel half having higher increase jefferson kids konz less level lunch meals middle offered pay prices raise receive rising rolls school since students sturgeon supply think three-eighths used year

created at TagCrowd.com