by Wendy Coakley, Stewardship Committee
As we mark the end of summer and enter a still-uncertain fall, we invite all members of St. Stephen’s to participate in our first-ever Word Cloud Project!
If you have never encountered a word cloud before, it is a common data visualization method, allowing us to display a group of words generated by all of you. As you can see from the example, each word differs in size based on the frequency of its usage.
Word clouds are not new, but they have experienced a revival during Covid times as an easy way to re-engage people who have been forced apart, while crowdsourcing what’s on their minds.
While you may be able to guess what was asked of participants in our example (our guess: “What one word best describes your morning?”), here is the question that will inform our Word Cloud Project:
In one word, what do you love/have you missed most about St. Stephen’s?
There will be a month-long ingathering, with many opportunities to submit your words (yes, you may offer more than one if it’s hard to choose your favorite):
- By writing them down on provided slips of paper at services starting Sept. 12 through Oct. 10, and depositing them in the specially designated offertory plate
- By emailing your one-word answer(s) to project coordinator Wendy Coakley at wendycoakley72 AT gmail.com at any time before Oct. 10.
Your words – and those of your brothers and sisters in Christ (including the children and teens) at St. Stephen’s – will be typed (anonymously) into a word-cloud generator that will create a collage unique to our parish at this still-challenging but very exciting time in our history.
The finished Word Cloud will be revealed on Oct. 17. Thank you in advance for your engaged support of this project, and for your word offering!