OR Alphabetical
Search: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The New York Times, August 14, 2003
Swing Your Partner:A Square Dance of Synonyms and Antonyms
By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL
Search for the word "plain'' in a conventional book-bound thesaurus, and you will find an unadorned and featureless list of synonyms on the printed page. Search for the same word with Visual Thesaurus 2.0, and the program generates an animated three-dimensional constellation in which "plain" is at the center, surrounded by synonyms and other related words. Click on the antonym "fancy'' and that word drifts to middle of the screen, where synonyms rush to encircle it in an elaborate, showy and - the people who came up with it hope - thought-provoking display. A free version of the Visual Thesaurus was [Image from NYTimes Article] created by the New York software company Plumb Design and was put online in 1998. The new version, which works with WIN 98 and MAC OS X and later, can be purchased as a CD-ROM or downloaded for $29.99 at www.visualthesaurus.com. A side panel adds brief definitions and color-coded entries (nouns are in the red category, verbs in green and so on). It also offers more kinds of connections between words. For instance, a solid line between words still denotes synonyms, but a dashed line may indicate that "tulip'' is a type of liliaceous plant. The Visual Thesaurus was originally designed to demonstrate Plumb's 3-D graphical interface for exploring complex information. The data is provided by WordNet, an online relational database of more than 40,000 English-language words that was developed by Princeton University's Cognitive Science Library. Marc Tinkler, Plumb's president, described the Visual Thesaurus as both a tool and toy. "A thesaurus is pure navigation," he said. "The act of getting there is the whole idea."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Click
for General Information
Click
for Understanding The Visual Thesaurus
Click for Screen
Shot of The Visual Thesaurus
| Title (Click on title for Review) |
Publisher | Ages | Media | Price | |
 |
10-Up |
WIN 98/2000/XP/ME & OS X (10.1 and Higher) |
$29.99 |
Reviews
(Click on your "Back Button" to return)
"Education
World"
"PC
Magazine"
"Robin
Good"
"Editorial
Comments"
ORDER (888)
881-6001
(Monday-Friday, 9:00AM-6:00PM, Central Time)
