Description
TextArc exposes the nature and style of a document's content, not by algorithmic winnowing but by arranging and showing every word.
TextArc represents the entire text as two concentric spirals on the screen: each line is drawn in a tiny (one pixel tall) font around the outside, starting at the top; then each word is drawn in a more readable size. Important typographic features, like the mouse-tail shape of a poem at about two o'clock, can be seen because the tiny lines retain their formatting. Frequently used words stand out from the background more intensely. This is the key organizing structure of TextArc: words that appear more than once are drawn at their average position. Imagine each word attached to where it belongs around the spiral by a tiny rubber band; if the word appears in two places two rubber bands are attached. The net result of this rubber band tug-of-war is that a word will appear closer to places where it is used more.
TextArc was designed with exactly this intent: words draw attention to where they appear in the document. Distribution information is revealed when the analyst points at a word: its rubber band rays become visible, linking it to every place it appears in the text.
