Wordle Up

I am slow on the pickup of new trends in technology and learning. I try and remain informed via twitter, blogs and RSS feeds, but ultimately I always miss cool stuff. Wordle is the newest cool thing that I missed. While in a meeting today in a colleague's office, instead of listening intently, I was focused on his framed wordle. Sounds pretty bad I know, but Wordle is a website that allows you to create "word cloud" art. Individuals can submit their own text from a variety of sources including blog feeds, RSS feeds or even texts from emails. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text to create a variety of different word cloud images. So why am I all over Wordle? I certainly didn't create the website or the concept, and I am not sure of its true functionality. At least with Popplet, I can use that technology in a meeting or during a brainstorming session. I think I am fired up about Wordle because it can visually show what I am talking about across a variety of platforms. Am I really saying or writing what I believe? Am I messaging consistently? Am I putting my money where my mouth is, or am I just full of hot air? To me, Wordle can be used for fun and education. What a great way for a teacher or a team leader to show trends across a presentation or project. Unique technologies spring up daily and the next big thing will be here before I am done with this post. But don't be content just waiting for what is next. Explore what is here now and make sure what you are projecting is really who you are.