June 2010 CP Election: Ultimate TL;DR Version

Day 928, 12:30 • Published in Canada Canada • by saltydog
What is this?
The following are visualizations of the frequency distribution of words in both Addy and Dade's CP-related articles. Layman's terms? The pictures show how often each candidate used a word - bigger = more often, tiny = maybe once or twice.

This is the second time I have done the Ultimate CP Race TL😉R. Last month's effort was a huge success - garnering a tweet from the author of the software itself!

Why?
The saying that a picture can be worth a thousand words is doubly true when the picture is made up of the words you choose to use. This really is the ultimate TL😉R version of a platform in that you can immediately see what a candidate was concerned with through his choice of words.

Information is power, and I firmly believe we have to get information about our candidates into the hands of our voters. This kind of approach is powerful because it is neutral - I am only processing data into a visual form from what was said by each candidate.

What does it mean?
By itself, a visualization is just one set of data that paints part of a larger picture. Much of the rest of that picture is related to the political context of the race itself, which has boiled down to a contest of leadership between the CPF and DAL presidents. Not unlike the May CP race, these visualizations show that Addy and Dade have almost completely divergent platform priorities: Dade is concerned with a broad, general platform; Addy with a central focus on machinations of war with eFrance.

I hope that this set of visualizations will increase uptake of the candidate's platforms, offering one more tool to see what is actually being said.


Addy's CP Platform Visualization

Click to see full version


Dade's CP Platform Visualization

Click to see full version


Method
Source texts were copied as they appeared in each article from beginning to end, excluding the titles. Once compiled, each candidate's dataset was loaded into Tagxedo for processing. Emphasis was set to 100% so as to have the font size represent the frequency of a word's use at a fixed ratio, while Tightness was set to 160% to properly fit the maple leaf shape. Word Limit was set to its maximum (600) so as to give the most accurate representation of each dataset, given the limitations of the software.

Sources
Note: Any French translations were not included in this dataset; as both these candidates are native English-speakers, my focus is on their choice of words in their native language

Addy Lawrence
Addy Lawrence in a Clean Campaign for CP on June 5
Who's your daddy? Day 2 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 3 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 4 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 5 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 9 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 10 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 11 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 12 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 14 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 16 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 17 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Day 18 of Addy's Clean CP Campaign
Who's your daddy? Addy or Dade?
My Plan to End the eFrance War

Dade Pendwyn:
Dade Pendwyn's Official CP Announcement
Dade's CP Platform: Community
Dade's CP Platform: Opportunity
Dade's CP Platform: Leadership
Dade's CP Platform: Accountability
Dade's Cabinet Revealed!



Vote Informed!
And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!

P.S. today is also my 1st eRep birthday 😛