February 03, 2004
Google does temporality
Google put up its 2003 Zeigeist in late December, but that doesn't stop me from commenting today.
I like seeing different sorts of patterns in different contexts, and the query charts are a great example. I begin to see patterns, or at least a few detectable notions: things like anticipation, sudden events, and retrsopect.
This, for example, is a chart of the number of queries for "Carnaval". It looks like the curve leans a little left--perhaps more people were planning on Carnaval than were interested in finding information about it afterward.
In contrast, this is a chart of queries for "Congestion charge", which London instituted in early February. Note that there was aniticipation up front--and then a steady drumbeat afterward.
(The short bump rhythm is a Google constant: more people search on weekdays than weekends.)
This is strongly event-driven: there's little before or after, but a great deal of interest right AT the occasion of the Columbia disaster.
Last, this is an entirely new event: no one was searching for SARS before it hit the radar..