News Cloud

November 23, 2005 6:36 AM

NewsCloud. A new way to read the Washington Post.
posted by srboisvert (17 comments total)

Even though these tag clouds are not new to most on the blue, I think I have just glimpsed a clearer (cloudier?) picture of the future of news.
posted by jaronson at 6:41 AM on November 23, 2005

That's cool, I guess.
posted by thirteenkiller at 6:42 AM on November 23, 2005

I need a WaPo cloud filtration system that removes all the crap about Bush, Libbey, Cheney, Congress, Iraq, et al. Now that would be useful.
posted by shoepal at 6:45 AM on November 23, 2005

Wow, I think I somehow became less informed about today's news by reading that.
posted by dead_ at 6:46 AM on November 23, 2005

There needs to be a cloud/RSS/date sensitive throttle so I can narrow the filter in a combination of those three.

Then toss in NYtimes, blog space, Federal links, some foreign newspapers, etc. etc.

I like the cloud space, but I want to further modify my view.
posted by fluffycreature at 6:55 AM on November 23, 2005

Meh, this is a nice idea, but it's like listening to the singles while ignoring the album as a whole. Newspapers are designed a certain way for a reason.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 7:02 AM on November 23, 2005

Hmm, don't know. Unless I have a feeling of what I want to read already, I think the cloud approach limits the potential for stumbling onto an interesting story. Even if I were to just peruse the list, one-word cloud links aren't informative enough to pique my curiosity. Headlines in a normal layout, on the other hand...
posted by nyterrant at 7:02 AM on November 23, 2005

The cloud isn't in alphabetical order. "China" shows up in the middle, after "united states". How am I supposed to find anything that way?
posted by GuyZero at 7:09 AM on November 23, 2005

I call BINGO!
posted by roofus at 7:11 AM on November 23, 2005

If you like this (or even if you don't), you might enjoy the rest of the Washington Post mashups being collected over at Post Remix. For example, why not try a dynamically-generated news quiz?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 7:20 AM on November 23, 2005

grrarrgh00: That news quiz is great. Would be even greater if I knew the answers. (In my defense, I haven't been up long nor have I looked at a newspaper.)
posted by leftcoastbob at 8:00 AM on November 23, 2005

Wow, I think I somehow became less informed about today's news by reading that.

Okay it's not a good way to take in today's news, but it does provide a quick visual representation of the bigger stories in the paper. I've seen clouds like this before, but it occurs to me now that perhaps this could be used as a way to measure bias in a publication? Right and left wing groups are always claiming the other side has biased news casts - perhaps a tag cloud that looks at certain word combinations would be revealing.
posted by Zinger at 8:46 AM on November 23, 2005

Something tells me a lot of the big words will pretty much always stay the same: "White House", "Washington", "President [so-and-so]", "United States", "Federal", "State", etc.

How is this supposed to help me again?
posted by moonbiter at 8:53 AM on November 23, 2005

Previously, on Mefi: Newsmap.
posted by chrominance at 9:08 AM on November 23, 2005

Memeorandum does this better, in my opinion, and from more news-sources than one.
posted by tpl1212 at 9:44 AM on November 23, 2005

Anonymous source clouds and thunderheads of judgement.
posted by xod at 9:45 AM on November 23, 2005

NewsRex. A new way to read the news.
posted by Laen at 2:29 PM on November 23, 2005