punditry.ca — uncovering DSU elections

 I created word clouds for the VPI candidates (what does this mean?).  This time I removed “Dalhousie Student Union”, “DSU”, and “student(s)”, as all those terms were dominant for these candidates.  You can form your own conclusions; mine are below.

• The job description, per dsuelections.ca:  ”The Vice President (Internal) is the Chief Communications Officer of the Union.”  You’d expect communication to show up, and it does for both but in a much bigger way for Jennex.

• The other big role of the VP Internal is the management of societies, and that obviously shows up big for both of them.

• Contrary to what SustainDal said, looks like sustainability shows up more for Jennex, relatively speaking.

• The term website shows up for Hobbs, but not Jennex.  This confused me, as both of them have talked a lot about the DSU’s online presence.  Here is an area where word clouds can lead you astray.  Check out their statements on websites:

Jennex: “A more accessible and accurate WEBSITE that is able to provide a hub for any and all student activities, on campus and off. For a student union that represents over 15,000 students spread over four campuses, everything centers on having a functional website.”

Hobbs: “The website must be improved. This is a common feeling, but also feel as if it must be updated promptly and more regularly. This is what makes websites attractive, and is the root behind the sensation of blogs. We also must make our website accessible.” … “consistent branding including the website” … ”I will add a more effective, nice and visible website to the mix” …

• They make similar statements on the actual website; Hobbs just repeats it more.  (I do like how Hobbs wants to integrate with my.dal, something I bitched about when reviewing presidential candidates).

• Looks like Jennex says the name of his position a lot, VP Internal shows up frequently.  That’s probably not necessary.

• Accessibility hasn’t been a big deal in DSU elections since the Accessibility Office got an election thrown out because there was no way for the visually imparied to vote.  That said, the VPI chairs the student accessibility fund, so its nice to see accessible show up in Jennex’s cloud.

• The other words that came up a lot:
  • Hobbs: ensure, make, need are the words of someone who has identified problems and wants to fix them.  food shows up; this bizzarely IS part of his platform though not his portfolio.  like shows up, in this case used to give frequent examples.  work is interesting, read on for why.  
  • Jennex: look, forward are two frequent words, and they are invariably used together.  That’s a sense of someone excited for the job, as opposed to Hobbs’ work.  Perhaps this is because Hobbs is currently employed by the VPI and sees more of the “work” side of the position?  members: societies don’t exist without them.