Campaign Limericks

Red, Blue and Grey Abstract pattern

Campaign Limericks is a project by Catherine D’Ignazio, with the Institute for Infinitely Small Things, that quantitatively analyzes recent speeches by the top four presidential candidates. By remixing candidates’ top words and phrases on the campaign trail we produce limericks about politics, campaigning and the political process that were never spoken outright (but maybe should have been).

These limericks are data visualizations of political speech. The color corresponds to the candidate who most frequently spoke that word or phrase. The size of the term is the relative frequency of that word related to other words spoken on the campaign trail. The data analysis of campaign speech was done with DataBasic.io, a suite of tools designed for journalists, researchers and non-profit organizations. [Some creative license was taken with the grey text].

Installation of Campaign Limericks:

Installation of Campaign Limericks:

March 31 – October 21, 2016

CAPS –  4th floor of the CGIS Knafel Building
1737 Cambridge Street in Cambridge. Free and open to the public.

Organized by Catherine D’Ignazio and the Institute for Infinitely Small Things.
Project Partners: The Emerson Engagement LabThe MIT Center for Civic Media.

Sponsored by the Center for American Political Studies.