About the Shannonizer

Why I made the Shannonizer

I've always been fascinated with the uses (and abuses) of language, but my excuse for writing the Shannonizer was that I wanted to learn how to write CGI scripts in Perl. I'd never touched Perl or CGI before, but I searched the Web for a few relevant resources, downloaded the Perl manual, and had built a prototype Shannonizer within a week's spare time. So, if you're at all curious about Perl, I'd strongly recommend that you check it out; it's surprisingly easy, especially if you've played with C, awk, or any of the other UNIX favorites.

From there, it seemed a logical step to add useful information on Perl and CGI and on information science, especially as it relates to computer-generated text.

How the Shannonizer works

When you hit the "Shannonize!" button on the home page, the page calls a CGI script and sets it running. This script runs through 5 steps:
  1. Using a WWW call, the script grabs the document referenced by your selected URL.
  2. It quickly analyzes the style of this document, using word pairs.
  3. If you've selected an editor, the script combines the editor's style with the style of your document. (These 'preset' styles come from word-pair analysis of our virtual 'board of editors.')
  4. The script now generates a piece of random text, using the desired style. Certain HTML tags are conserved from the selected document, so that (for example) background colors and text colors look as they do in the original. Other HTML tags (like a "Home" button) are added.
  5. Finally, the script returns the formatted HTML to your browser.

The concept of the Shannonizer is based on the work of Dr. Claude Shannon, a pioneer in information theory at Bell Labs in the 1940s. Korenthal Associates (are they still around, anybody??) created a nifty little shareware game called "Babble!" in 1991, based on the same principle.

I haven't provided the Perl source code for the Shannonizer because it's still messy and I'm embarrassed. If enough people show interest, though, I'll probably clean it up and post it eventually.

What to do if the Shannonizer doesn't work properly

Problem: Slow response
If the Shannonizer is running slow, it may be that my ISP's Web Server has bogged down again. What can I expect for twenty bucks a month? Sorry! Just try it again a little later. Alternatively, the problem could be with the URL you've selected; it may be too long or on a slow server. Try another URL. You might want to try one from my favorite URLs to Shannonize list.

Problem: I can't get the Shannonizer to edit my favorite URL.
And you're positive it's spelled correctly, right? Make sure it's a true Web URL (that is, of form http://). FTP, Gopher, etc. won't work. The other possibility is that the URL takes so long to load up that the Shannonizer gets bored and quits.

Problem: This isn't particularly amusing.
Well, that little problem lies either with the Shannonizer, or with you (which is more likely, seeing as you're the kind of person who goes and looks up the help page for an idiotic web amusement when it isn't sufficiently amusing). In case it is the Shannonizer, though, try another URL and another editor. The Shannonizer works best on short (or medium-length) text-heavy web documents.

Problem: bugs, broken links, hysterical results I absolutely must share with someone before I burst
Please let us know. shannonteam@nightgarden.com.

About the editors

The Shannonizer Assault Team has spared no expense or effort to bring you the very finest English stylists for your Shannonizing pleasure. In fact, advances in cybernecromancy have allowed us to provide a large number of dead editors to revise your prose at no extra cost. Please welcome our illustrious board of editors:

Some URLs to try

Here are some URLs you may want to try Shannonizing. Note that these aren't hot links: you can't click on them and expect to get anywhere. Just copy them from here and then paste them in the URL box back on the home page.

................................................................. ......................................................
Tourist Tips from Las Vegas, Nevada http://www.netxs.net/vegas/mustsee.html
Hilary Clinton's Home Page http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/HILLARY_Home.html
The Declaration of Independence http://www.nightgarden.com/decind.htm
Today's Headlines http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm


[Home] . . [How it works] . . [Claude Shannon] . . [Perl & CGI]
[More fun & games] . . [What do you think?] . . [Help!]