Of Numbers and Words
((Using Textalyser to analyze diverse dances at the Gorean Campus Dash Exhibition held January 31 2015. - http://textalyser.net/. ))
Disaster!! I usually take pictures of dance events I attend, but once in a while the lag in our world is bad enough to make some performers not rezz correctly. It's one thing if they are missing an accessory on their silks, but quite another if they are missing hands, hair, bellies etc. ARRRGHHH - so frustrating as I like to blog about them, and hate to be unfair to any performer if some rezz and some don't.
So to make Paga out of lemons, I decided to focus my scroll concerning this event on the words instead of visuals of the dance (not a bad endeavor in any case, but you know I like my sketches). To spice it up I am beginning a study to use lexical analysis tools to see if there are some patterns in different levels of writing. There are several tools, but by pasting the dance into one it will count the words, and give you a relative measure of the 'readability' or complexity of a dance.
Let's have a look at the numbers.
There were 6 excellent dances. Tragically Nova was not able to dance due to technical issues, but that fit the theme of the day (chuckles). Other dancers include Storm reading a story, and his Tissia with a more traditional dance Etsuo & Tara performed a very interesting Poetry Faction work. Huntress Ame made most people cry with her dance dedicated to a long time friend and partner who passed away in RL that very morning. I feel bad even analyzing that as it was such an emotional moment. My own Snow brought the bond back into dance by creating an entire tavern, were masters were able to sit as she flitted between them. And finally, Maia did her typically excellent job with a light hearted Celtic romp.
With such diversity you would expect some differences in the numbers. Here is what I found
I would also like to count the ratio of adjectives and adverbs to nouns and verbs. But I leave that quest for another day. While the number don't tell us everything, you may be able to use this tool to see if your dance will make the judges eyes cross. Simple can be powerful. Would you speak to a friend with 4 descriptive words for every noun in Earth speech? hehe. Pick the right ones, and make us FEEL it.
As a viewer and judge of dance this is important to me. If I were smarter I could read and thoroughly absorb all nuances of the posts, watch those finely animated wiggles, enjoy and connect the music, and relish the overall meaning - all within the 5 to 8 minutes of the performance. However, being but a low caste merchant I find it hard to get everything out of the work in real time that I would wish. I find I appreciate dances that are powerful yet readable. That does not mean to dumb down the writing, but the writing has to sink into my Tahari baked brain in 30 seconds while I am watching your curves wiggle (or flowing robes for you free women, or athletic leaps for your Kajiri, or your spears for you panthers and huntresses).
We know good dance when we see it. You know who I'm talking about. Consider the top five dancers. Their posts are not always the longest. But the meaning is most potent. How can we scan our dances as we write them to make sure we are not getting carried away with beautiful poetic shimmering sighing adjectives? Or sentences so convoluted like the ones I write that people stop and and think "I know that was English, but I'm not getting that sentagraph at all!"
One of my friends retired on income from a tool called 'Lexiles'. It's a way to rate grade level of writing. The more advanced the higher the number. It is useful for selecting textbooks for Earth children, where even lower castes often learn how to read. I have not compared all such tools, but grabbed one yesterday at random that gives us a start. It was free, but I think they will want a small amount of money after a period of two moons. It is called "Textalyser" and can be found at http://textalyser.net/.
Disaster!! I usually take pictures of dance events I attend, but once in a while the lag in our world is bad enough to make some performers not rezz correctly. It's one thing if they are missing an accessory on their silks, but quite another if they are missing hands, hair, bellies etc. ARRRGHHH - so frustrating as I like to blog about them, and hate to be unfair to any performer if some rezz and some don't.
I darkened the skin for privacy. Several of the dances were not rezzing mesh body parts, hair, or clothes. I hate to show pictures of some but not all dancers as I don't think it fair. What to do?
So to make Paga out of lemons, I decided to focus my scroll concerning this event on the words instead of visuals of the dance (not a bad endeavor in any case, but you know I like my sketches). To spice it up I am beginning a study to use lexical analysis tools to see if there are some patterns in different levels of writing. There are several tools, but by pasting the dance into one it will count the words, and give you a relative measure of the 'readability' or complexity of a dance.
Let's have a look at the numbers.
There were 6 excellent dances. Tragically Nova was not able to dance due to technical issues, but that fit the theme of the day (chuckles). Other dancers include Storm reading a story, and his Tissia with a more traditional dance Etsuo & Tara performed a very interesting Poetry Faction work. Huntress Ame made most people cry with her dance dedicated to a long time friend and partner who passed away in RL that very morning. I feel bad even analyzing that as it was such an emotional moment. My own Snow brought the bond back into dance by creating an entire tavern, were masters were able to sit as she flitted between them. And finally, Maia did her typically excellent job with a light hearted Celtic romp.
With such diversity you would expect some differences in the numbers. Here is what I found
- The Gunning Fog Readability Index - varies from 6 to 20 - low numbers easier to read. The max for this event was 10.5,and the min 7.4. Who was the max do you suppose?
- Sentences - varied from 12 to 116! And yes, you may correctly deduce that poetry was 12. Most others were 46,50, 64 etc, with Snow's format having the most sentances.
- Average Sentence Length I words - Min was 16, max was 25.
- Max Sentence Length - Ame's impassioned dance was the highest, standing at 74 compared to most of the others being 41 or so.
- Readability (Beta) - 49.6 to 64.2. (100 easy, 20 hard, 60-70 optimal)
I would also like to count the ratio of adjectives and adverbs to nouns and verbs. But I leave that quest for another day. While the number don't tell us everything, you may be able to use this tool to see if your dance will make the judges eyes cross. Simple can be powerful. Would you speak to a friend with 4 descriptive words for every noun in Earth speech? hehe. Pick the right ones, and make us FEEL it.
As a viewer and judge of dance this is important to me. If I were smarter I could read and thoroughly absorb all nuances of the posts, watch those finely animated wiggles, enjoy and connect the music, and relish the overall meaning - all within the 5 to 8 minutes of the performance. However, being but a low caste merchant I find it hard to get everything out of the work in real time that I would wish. I find I appreciate dances that are powerful yet readable. That does not mean to dumb down the writing, but the writing has to sink into my Tahari baked brain in 30 seconds while I am watching your curves wiggle (or flowing robes for you free women, or athletic leaps for your Kajiri, or your spears for you panthers and huntresses).
We know good dance when we see it. You know who I'm talking about. Consider the top five dancers. Their posts are not always the longest. But the meaning is most potent. How can we scan our dances as we write them to make sure we are not getting carried away with beautiful poetic shimmering sighing adjectives? Or sentences so convoluted like the ones I write that people stop and and think "I know that was English, but I'm not getting that sentagraph at all!"
One of my friends retired on income from a tool called 'Lexiles'. It's a way to rate grade level of writing. The more advanced the higher the number. It is useful for selecting textbooks for Earth children, where even lower castes often learn how to read. I have not compared all such tools, but grabbed one yesterday at random that gives us a start. It was free, but I think they will want a small amount of money after a period of two moons. It is called "Textalyser" and can be found at http://textalyser.net/.