RE: Word-use spikes

From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Sun 02 Mar 2003 - 19:59:58 GMT

  • Next message: Lawrence DeBivort: "RE: Word-use spikes"

    The issue, I think, will come down to whether 'attention' to something is equivalent to a decision to act on the thing. That is, the grotesque levels of attention paid to non-factors, such as weather, sports and pop celebrities, may have little bearing on how people behave and be of little predictive help. (I was in Europe and Asia during the beginning of the world cricket competition, and was stunned to see the level of attention that it commanded everywhere. It makes the US Super Bowl look trivial.)

    Cheers, Lawry

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
    > Of Alan Patrick
    > Sent: Sun, March 02, 2003 4:09 PM
    > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Subject: Re: Word-use spikes
    >
    >
    >
    > > Leaving aside the unfortunate degeneration of language (not
    > that that is a
    > > new phenomenon!), and leaving aside 'celebrity'-based fads, I wonder
    > whether
    > > word-spike studies might not have a serious purpose, indicating
    > trends in
    > > the adoption of ideas or preoccupation with them. One could
    > conceive that
    > > such spikes indicate shifts of attention.
    >
    > This technique is already used by various future-prediction
    > outfits as a way
    > of picking up tipping points/new trends, as well as similar counts such as
    > no. of column inches on various subjects. I don't know how good a
    > predictor
    > it has proven to be before an event though, as it is not clear to
    > me whether
    > "the media" (ie financed, edited media) is a leading indicator, but I can
    > see how analysing Google searches or Blogs or suchlike (ie any unedited
    > medium) could be more interesting.
    >
    > Rgds
    >
    > Alan
    >
    >
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