I'm back and bouncing. Call me Zebedee.

The last month or so has been a particularly tough one at work, hence the lack of blog-posts. Not just in finding the time to write, but more that we've had some difficult things to deal with, that weren't really appropriate for writing about here. Writing about anything else seemed like missing the point. I've turned the corner in the last week though, so it's back to my brain buzzin' with lots of new stuff and the fug is lifting. So...

Tag Clouds.

I felt like I was the last one to notice that tag clouds are everywhere - until I mentioned it to a friend who said "what's a tag cloud?" However, I'm loving them, and the general concept of quick, snappy, word association. I reckon they're great for selection processes. This week I ...

• saw a word assocation list on a CV for a job application. Inspired. Made me laugh. Knowing the author, I'd say it gave a pdg indication of his corporate DNA. I'd hire him any day of the week ;)

• decided we should discover our own Notting Hill staff word-cloud and use it in our employer brand marketing materials. Nothing like a bit of authenticity to add value. If we can get the message across about "what it's really like to work here", we stand a better chance of attracting the kind of folk who will fit-in and thrive; rather than those that won't feel comfortable in our organisation. Square pegs and square holes etc.

• asked a digital media firm pitching for our intranet redevelopment business for the five words that would describe what it would be like working with them. It didn't floor them, quick as a flash they came back words that were resonant for us. They're so hired. More amusingly, when we invited the various firms in to pitch, Web Monkey asked them all to name their favourite type of biscuit (and then provided them for munching through the pitch - we look after our guests!) Not sure exactly what the relatively scoring mechanism for pink wafers versus hobnobs is... but it's it got me thinking.

I love the sheer economy of words in a cloud though. Rather than long prose, the tight, punchy message of a tag cloud is immediate. I guess it's the norm for the Gen Y that grow up with tinterweb and txt as communication norms - but even an older-fart like me is gettin' it.

So, my twenty words for this week ...

boing, fun, excitement, anticipation, optimism, trepidation, sadness, good-bye, fin-de-siecle, woo-hoo, adrenalin, discovery, serendipity, seperated-at-birth, sweat, over-stretched, full-roasted, home-coming, knowledge, friends.

Yours ?