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Text analysis is something we’ve all seen at some point but might not recall. Remember those god-awful word clouds you saw in 2007?  Those are just a form of text analysis.  Stefan Sinclair and Geoffrey Rockwell explain text analysis at its core and explain a few examples in their paper “Text Analysis and Visualization: Making Meaning Count”.  In their first example they talk about one of my favorite Deadspin articles, which used text analysis to show discrepancies in words used to describe white and black NFL players (the worst kept secret in sports). 

HaydenC insightfully points out that in the figure provided in the paper, the rate of the word “tough” appearing was about 1.5 times as high for white players compared to black players, but the total usage was about 2 times as high for black players.  While black players do make up roughly 70% of the NFL, HaydenC raises a great question – why are so many more words written about black players on aggregate?

I must admit that I forgot the password to the class website, thus I cannot reference another response and had to respond to a comment instead.  Remember classmates, whatever you do don’t cite this.