DiRT (Digital Research Tools) has a new home! Please visit Bamboo DiRT to explore this excellent collection of research tools.

Web site: Visuwords

Date of first review/ name of reviewer:  August 2011/ Pollyanna Macchiano, Undergraduate English Major, SJSU

As a visual search tool, the Visuwords online graphical dictionary does a mediocre job of providing in-depth nets of relationships between words and their connotations/associations. Perhaps because the term “dictionary” connotes a kind of thoroughness that is hard to replicate in succinct ways, this online graphical dictionary sticks to one or two definitions for each word, and even then they are vague. The overall structure of the system, however, is well-planned and explained clearly on the website.  

Starting with a word that’s entered into the search bar, the graphic then explodes from one starting word placed at the bottom connecting to a node with some synonyms, which then is branched to other nodes related in various ways to it. The visual key to the side of the visual is also fairly clear, though a bit crowded as there are 23 different symbols with varying colors with small black type beneath each one describing what they mean. The visuals themselves aren’t confusing or overbearing, since one could just drag their mouse over the graphic and move to see other far-reaching nodes. Double-clicking on a node is supposed to yield more connections to that specific word/idea and it’s also possible to click on and drag the various nodes to move them around the interface. This is useful to organize the various associations into a logical pattern or simply for easier viewing, as the web can get quite convoluted. Although, not every node that is double-clicked has an extra level of definition to it, which is disappointing. Since the dictionary isn’t exhaustive, it’s hard to really find it useful, unless one is interested in finding random colloquial terms. It’s difficult to gauge how the lists of words are inputted and valued; the interface seems a bit too arbitrary to be seriously considered for academic use, though it is entertaining to play with.  

What the Visuwords tool does do right is its clear effort to educate its users and elucidate what the connections mean. In a section at the bottom of the website titled “Understanding the links between Synsets,” the connections labeled “is a kind of,” “is an instance of,” “is a member of,” “is a part of,” and “is a substance of” are all explained in their technical terms with specific examples to illustrate their meanings. A way to learn about the vocabulary associated with these nodes or synsets, Visuwords does want the user to be educated and to really understand what it means to find connections between words and concepts. In this respect, it succeeds in its pedagogical activity. 

The importance of such a visual dictionary is unclear, because of the limitations inherent in its content. However, on a second glance, it may be fruitful to use Visuwords to brainstorm (instead of find definitions) ideas. Since each word comes with various associations and tangents, if I was perhaps stuck on a concept and needed related words or ideas to strike another idea, this tool would certainly do it. The connections between nodes are sometimes too obvious, while others are ingenious ways of connecting concepts that probably wouldn't be thought of without this tool.