What we Learned from 5 Million Books

Synopsis: The research in this 14-minute video was made possible by Google’s book digitization efforts. Researchers Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden show in a light-hearted way that reading isn’t the only thing these digitized books can be used for. They demonstrate the use of Google Labs’ Ngram Viewer, a tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of 5 million books from across centuries. The statistical data that emerges can give cultural insights into aspects such as censorship and changes in language use over time.
Language: English
Country: United States
Year of release: 2011
Year of production: 2011
Subjects: Social Studies; Technology
Keywords: books; censorship; cultural evolution; digital information; language development; statistical analysis

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