1 Million North American Students and 10,000 Online Subscribers Look up 2.9 Million Words Each Month Using the Visual Thesaurus

The Visual Thesaurus, software that combines an extensive English language dictionary and thesaurus with a graphic interface to animate the English language in a unique way, has reached two important milestones; The Visual Thesaurus is used now available to 1 million north American students in kindergarten through college and has 10,000 individual online subscribers, Michael Freedman, CEO, Thinkmap, Inc., the developer of the Visual Thesaurus, reported today.

Adopted by the State of Utah, the Province of Ontario, 52 school districts in 28 states and 4 provinces, and almost 200 individual schools, The Visual Thesaurus is also being used at the University of Calgary, the University of Michigan, Quinnipiac University and the University of Chicago among others. It has been purchased by public and private schools and by parochial schools of almost every denomination. Individual schools in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Holland, Malaysia and Israel have also integrated this unique tool into language arts curricula.

Users look up 97,000 words each day using The Visual Thesaurus, which processes 2.9 million word look-ups each month online. The average person looks up 8 words each time they use The Visual Thesaurus either typing specific words into the “search” box or clicking on words as they explore and manipulate the visual representation of each word.

The Visual Thesaurus has been selected as one of the leading examples of outstanding design produced in 2004 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Arts. The Visual Thesaurus was cited specifically for excellence in the clear display of information.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by AIGA. It’s fitting that this award is for information design because it honors not only the innovative and engaging graphical interface of The Visual Thesaurus but also its underlying Thinkmap visualization software which organizes and displays the basic data. Our design promotes adventure, discovery and exploration of the English language and the design itself has accelerated the adoption of this tool by students, educators, parents, creative people, writers, poets and visual thinkers everywhere.”

The Visual Thesaurus uses a graphic interface to animate the English language in a unique way, revealing the meaning, the origins, the pronunciation and the relationship between words. Turning the cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” on its head, the Visual Thesaurus creates a matrix of type, colored dots and floating lines to display the meanings, parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, and the relationships between 145,000 English words. With 16 different semantic relationships embedded in a fun-to-use format, the Visual Thesaurus builds vocabulary, sparks brainstorming, deepens understanding and is a tool valued by anyone who needs to learn, communicate or do business in English.

Anyone can get a free trial of The Visual Thesaurus at www.visualthesaurus.com.