Tuesday Tips April 26, 2016

TECH TIP:  Word Sift

This is a online tool that would be helpful in visualizing and analyzing text and primary sources.  You copy the text of the document, speech, report, etc. and then hit "Sift".  You will then get a word cloud that visualizes the most commonly used words.  You can edit the style of the word cloud.  When you click on a word in the cloud, it will then show you were in the text that word was used.  You also get the definition and a visual thesaurus.  There also images that are associated with the word you highlighted.  

Here is a sift of Martin Luther King, Jr's " I Have a Dream" speech:

BOOK TIP:  Shakespeare's 400th
April 23 marked the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death (and some say also his birth, but that date has never been verified!).  Here are a few fun books about the Bard from the library:

Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle.  A novel of romance and time travel.  After a disastrous performance in her school's Shakespeare play, Miranda is whisked off to 16th century England by a fellow castmate in order to save William Shakespeare.

Zombie Island: A Shakespeare Undead Novel by Lori Handeland.   In this zombie farce, vampire William Shakespeare is stranded on an island full of zombies and fight to save even Queen Elizabeth.