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NPR's podcasts, Google Searches Are A Window Into Our Culture

Google Searches Are A Window Into Our Culture

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.

I'm Steve Inskeep. LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

The fact we all use Google so much has led some social scientists to think of Google searches as a window into our culture.

NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam joins me now to talk about some unusual social science research. Welcome to the program.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: So what do these Google searches tell us about ourselves?

VEDANTAM: Millions of people are searching for things everyday on Google.

And the people at Google realized that if they track those searches these patterns can tell us about what's happening in people's lives. So a year or so ago, the folks at Google realized that as the flu was spreading from state to state, people's search terms were changing.

So people would search for things like what do I do if I have a sore throat or what do I do if my child is running a high temperature. And by tracking these searches, Google discovered, long before public health authorities discovered, how the flu was spreading from state to state. WERTHEIMER: Now, Google has a new tool.

I mean, I don't know how new it is - new to me. VEDANTAM: Yeah, it's called the Google Correlate tool.

And basically what they've done is they've made these kinds of searches available for free on the Internet to anyone who wants. So, in fact, I'm going to bring Google Correlate up here. And I'm going to type in the search term, guns, into Google Correlate. WERTHEIMER: That's a nice hot topic.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

VEDANTAM: And if you look closely at guns, you can see that the search terms that are correlated with guns are very gun like.

There's handguns. There's rifles. WERTHEIMER: Mauser.

VEDANTAM: Right.

So the Google Correlate tool tells you where in the country people tend to be searching for this term and what other terms are correlated with the search term. And many of the findings are intuitively obvious. You would expect that people searching for guns would also be searching for rifles. But where the tool gets interesting is when some of these searches produce correlations that are unexpected. So give me a search term, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: OK.

Most of my searches have to do with recipes and food. And today I was looking at how much beef costs. Try filet mignon. VEDANTAM: OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING)

VEDANTAM: So here's the interesting thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

WERTHEIMER: Roman Catholic churches, Italian men and terror squad.

VEDANTAM: You know, so this is what's so fascinating about this Google Correlate too.

I mean, why would Roman Catholic churches be correlated with filet mignon? WERTHEIMER: Beyond the fact that it's interesting, what does it tell us, these correlations?

VEDANTAM: There's a sociologist that I spoke with at the University of North Carolina.

His name is Phil Cohen. And what he did is he said can we apply this tool to politics. And so he said let me search for prominent, liberal and conservative commentators - people like Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert, or Rush Limbaugh. And what he found, unsurprisingly actually, was that the places where people were doing a lot of searches for the liberal commentators tended to be liberal places.

They were places that tended to vote for President Obama in the 2008 election. WERTHEIMER: California.

VEDANTAM: Exactly.

But he also found that the places which searched for the liberal commentators also tended to search for very particular kinds of foods. WERTHEIMER: Now, that is very strange.

VEDANTAM: So let me play you a little bit of what Phil Cohen told me in terms of what the liberals who are searching for Rachel Maddow are also searching for, in terms of their food.

PHIL COHEN: On the liberal list are arugula pasta, beets nutrition, beets urine, fake meat, fennel salad, firm tofu, a variety of vegetarian cooking, vegetarian recipes.

Something like a Republican stereotype of what a liberal food diet might be. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

VEDANTAM: I have to say, that's a pretty funny list.

WERTHEIMER: It is a very funny list.

So what does the other side eat? VEDANTAM: So on the other side - what he found on the other side was not so much that people were searching for particular kinds of foods...

COHEN: But things about dieting, acai berry diet, prescription weight loss and weight loss pills.

VEDANTAM: And so what it suggests is that when we think about our political orientations, we tend to think that our ideologies determine whether we're Democrats or Republicans.

But I think what this research is at least hinting at, is the possibility that our political orientations are really a matter of our identities, are a matter of our cultures. And so if you're somebody who's a vegetarian, who like beet salad, it's very unlikely that you're going to be a Republican. WERTHEIMER: Data mining has always been helpful to political people.

That's the thing I know the most about. They look for who is subscribing to what publication. They look to who drives what kind of car. Does this do something different? VEDANTAM: I don't think it's doing something qualitatively different.

I think it's just allowing political consultants - and I'm sure they must be using this tool - to get at this information much more quickly. So if you're a political consultant who isn't using Google Correlate, I actually think you're probably being irresponsible.

Because what this is showing us is that if you're a Democrat who's trying to reach Democratic voters, one very effective way to do it is to organize something to do with vegetarian cooking. And you can be pretty sure that almost everyone who shows up is going to be somebody who you want to talk to. WERTHEIMER: NPR's science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.

Shankar, thank you.

VEDANTAM: Thanks, Linda.

Google Searches Are A Window Into Our Culture Las búsquedas en Google son una ventana a nuestra cultura As pesquisas no Google são uma janela para a nossa cultura Поисковые запросы Google - это окно в нашу культуру 谷歌搜索是了解我们文化的窗口

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: STEVE INSKEEP, ANFITRIÓN:

It’s MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Es EDICIÓN DE LA MAÑANA de NPR News.

I’m Steve Inskeep. LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I’m Linda Wertheimer.

The fact we all use Google so much has led some social scientists to think of Google searches as a window into our culture. El hecho de que todos usemos tanto Google ha llevado a algunos científicos sociales a pensar en las búsquedas de Google como una ventana a nuestra cultura. 私たち全員がGoogleを多用しているという事実により、一部の社会科学者はGoogle検索を私たちの文化への窓と考えるようになりました。 O fato de todos nós usarmos o Google tanto levou alguns cientistas sociais a pensar nas buscas do Google como uma janela para nossa cultura. Hepimizin Google'ı bu kadar çok kullanması, bazı sosyal bilimcilerin Google aramalarını kültürümüze bir pencere olarak düşünmelerine neden oldu.

NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam joins me now to talk about some unusual social science research. El corresponsal de ciencia de NPR, Shankar Vedantam, se une a mí ahora para hablar sobre una investigación inusual en ciencias sociales. NPR bilim muhabiri Shankar Vedantam, sıradışı bir sosyal bilim araştırmasından bahsetmek için şimdi bana katılıyor. Welcome to the program.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda. SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Günaydın, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: So what do these Google searches tell us about ourselves? WERTHEIMER: Peki bu Google aramaları bize kendimiz hakkında ne söylüyor?

VEDANTAM: Millions of people are searching for things everyday on Google. VEDANTAM: Milyonlarca insan her gün Google'da bir şeyler arıyor.

And the people at Google realized that if they track those searches these patterns can tell us about what’s happening in people’s lives. Y la gente de Google se dio cuenta de que si realiza un seguimiento de esas búsquedas, estos patrones pueden informarnos sobre lo que está sucediendo en la vida de las personas. Ve Google'daki insanlar, bu aramaları izlerlerse, bu kalıpların insanların hayatlarında neler olduğunu anlatabileceğini fark etti. So a year or so ago, the folks at Google realized that as the flu was spreading from state to state, people’s search terms were changing. Hace aproximadamente un año, la gente de Google se dio cuenta de que a medida que la gripe se propagaba de un estado a otro, los términos de búsqueda de las personas estaban cambiando. 1年ほど前、Googleの人々は、インフルエンザが州から州へと広がるにつれて、人々の検索用語が変化していることに気づきました。 Bir yıl kadar önce, Google'daki insanlar, grip devletten eyalete yayıldıkça, insanların arama terimlerinin değiştiğini fark etti.

So people would search for things like what do I do if I have a sore throat or what do I do if my child is running a high temperature. Entonces, la gente busca cosas como qué hago si tengo dolor de garganta o qué hago si mi hijo tiene fiebre alta. Yani insanlar boğaz ağrım varsa ne yaparsam yaparım, yoksa çocuğum yüksek sıcaklıkta çalışıyorsa ne yapmalıyım? And by tracking these searches, Google discovered, long before public health authorities discovered, how the flu was spreading from state to state. そして、これらの検索を追跡することにより、Googleは、公衆衛生当局が発見するずっと前に、インフルエンザが州から州へとどのように広がっているかを発見しました。 Ve bu aramaları izleyerek Google, halk sağlığı yetkilileri tarafından keşfedilmeden çok önce, gripün devletten devlete nasıl yayıldığını keşfetti. WERTHEIMER: Now, Google has a new tool. WERTHEIMER: Artık, Google'ın yeni bir aracı var.

I mean, I don’t know how new it is - new to me. Quiero decir, no sé qué tan nuevo es, nuevo para mí. Demek istediğim, ne kadar yeni olduğunu bilmiyorum - benim için yeni. VEDANTAM: Yeah, it’s called the Google Correlate tool. VEDANTAM:ええ、それはGoogleCorrelateツールと呼ばれています。 VEDANTAM: Evet, buna Google Correlate aracı deniyor.

And basically what they’ve done is they’ve made these kinds of searches available for free on the Internet to anyone who wants. Ve temel olarak yaptıkları şey, internette bu tür aramaları istedikleri kişilere ücretsiz olarak yaptılar. So, in fact, I’m going to bring Google Correlate up here. Entonces, de hecho, traeré Google Correlate aquí. Yani aslında, Google Correlate'i buraya getireceğim. And I’m going to type in the search term, guns, into Google Correlate. Y voy a escribir el término de búsqueda, armas, en Google Correlate. Ve ben arama terimini, silahları Google Correlate'e yazacağım. WERTHEIMER: That’s a nice hot topic. WERTHEIMER: Ese es un buen tema candente.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) (SONIDO DE RISA) (Güleryüzün Sesi)

VEDANTAM: And if you look closely at guns, you can see that the search terms that are correlated with guns are very gun like. VEDANTAM: Y si miras de cerca las armas, puedes ver que los términos de búsqueda que están correlacionados con las armas se parecen mucho a las armas. VEDANTAM: Ve eğer silahlara yakından bakarsanız, silahlarla ilişkili olan arama terimlerinin çok silahlı olduğunu görebilirsiniz.

There’s handguns. Hay pistolas. Tabancalar var. There’s rifles. Hay rifles. Tüfekler var. WERTHEIMER: Mauser. WERTHEIMER: Mauser. WERTHEIMER: Mauser.

VEDANTAM: Right.

So the Google Correlate tool tells you where in the country people tend to be searching for this term and what other terms are correlated with the search term. Entonces, la herramienta Google Correlate le indica en qué parte del país la gente tiende a buscar este término y qué otros términos están correlacionados con el término de búsqueda. Dolayısıyla, Google Correlate aracı, ülkede insanların bu terimi nerede aradıklarını ve diğer terimlerin arama terimi ile ne şekilde ilişkili olduğunu söyler. And many of the findings are intuitively obvious. Y muchos de los hallazgos son intuitivamente obvios. Ve bulguların çoğu sezgisel olarak açıktır. You would expect that people searching for guns would also be searching for rifles. Es de esperar que las personas que buscan armas también busquen rifles. Silah arayan insanların da tüfek aramalarını beklersiniz. But where the tool gets interesting is when some of these searches produce correlations that are unexpected. Pero donde la herramienta se vuelve interesante es cuando algunas de estas búsquedas producen correlaciones inesperadas. しかし、ツールが興味深いのは、これらの検索の一部が予期しない相関関係を生成する場合です。 Ancak aracın ilgi çekici olduğu yerlerde, bu aramaların bazıları beklenmedik korelasyonlar oluşturduğunda. So give me a search term, Linda. Así que dame un término de búsqueda, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: OK.

Most of my searches have to do with recipes and food. La mayoría de mis búsquedas tienen que ver con recetas y comida. And today I was looking at how much beef costs. Y hoy estaba mirando cuánto cuesta la carne. Try filet mignon. Prueba el filet mignon. Filet mignon'u dene. VEDANTAM: OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYPING)

VEDANTAM: So here’s the interesting thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

WERTHEIMER: Roman Catholic churches, Italian men and terror squad. WERTHEIMER: iglesias católicas romanas, hombres italianos y escuadrón terrorista. WERTHEIMER:ローマカトリック教会、イタリア人男性、テロチーム。 WERTHEIMER: Roma Katolik kiliseleri, İtalyan erkek ve terör ekibi.

VEDANTAM: You know, so this is what’s so fascinating about this Google Correlate too. VEDANTAM: Ya sabes, esto es lo fascinante de Google Correlate también. VEDANTAM: Biliyorsunuz, bu yüzden bu Google Correlate hakkında bu kadar büyüleyici olan şey bu.

I mean, why would Roman Catholic churches be correlated with filet mignon? Quiero decir, ¿por qué las iglesias católicas romanas se correlacionan con el filet mignon? WERTHEIMER: Beyond the fact that it’s interesting, what does it tell us, these correlations? WERTHEIMER: Más allá del hecho de que es interesante, ¿qué nos dicen estas correlaciones? WERTHEIMER: İlginç olmasının ötesinde, bu korelasyonlar bize ne anlatıyor?

VEDANTAM: There’s a sociologist that I spoke with at the University of North Carolina. VEDANTAM: Hay un sociólogo con el que hablé en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte.

His name is Phil Cohen. Su nombre es Phil Cohen. And what he did is he said can we apply this tool to politics. Y lo que hizo fue decir, ¿podemos aplicar esta herramienta a la política? そして彼がしたことは、このツールを政治に適用できると彼が言ったことです。 Yaptığı şey bu aracı siyasete uygulayabileceğimizi söyledi. And so he said let me search for prominent, liberal and conservative commentators - people like Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert, or Rush Limbaugh. Y entonces dijo: déjenme buscar comentaristas prominentes, liberales y conservadores, personas como Rachel Maddow y Stephen Colbert, o Rush Limbaugh. そして彼は、レイチェル・マドーやスティーブン・コルベール、またはラッシュ・リンボーのような著名でリベラルで保守的なコメンテーターを探しましょうと言いました。 Ve dedi ki, seçkin, liberal ve muhafazakar yorumcular aramamı istedi - Rachel Maddow ve Stephen Colbert veya Rush Limbaugh gibi insanlar. And what he found, unsurprisingly actually, was that the places where people were doing a lot of searches for the liberal commentators tended to be liberal places. Y lo que encontró, como era de esperar en realidad, fue que los lugares donde la gente estaba haciendo muchas búsquedas de comentaristas liberales tendían a ser lugares liberales. Ve şaşırtıcı bir şekilde aslında bulduğu şey, insanların liberal yorumcular için çok fazla arama yaptığı yerlerin liberal yerler olma eğilimindeydi.

They were places that tended to vote for President Obama in the 2008 election. Eran lugares que tendían a votar por el presidente Obama en las elecciones de 2008. 2008 seçimlerinde Başkan Obama'ya oy verme eğiliminde olan yerlerdi. WERTHEIMER: California.

VEDANTAM: Exactly.

But he also found that the places which searched for the liberal commentators also tended to search for very particular kinds of foods. Pero también descubrió que los lugares que buscaban a los comentaristas liberales también tendían a buscar tipos de alimentos muy particulares. Fakat aynı zamanda liberal yorumcuları araştıran yerlerin de çok özel türden yiyecekler aramaya eğilimli olduğunu keşfetti. WERTHEIMER: Now, that is very strange. WERTHEIMER: Eso es muy extraño.

VEDANTAM: So let me play you a little bit of what Phil Cohen told me in terms of what the liberals who are searching for Rachel Maddow are also searching for, in terms of their food. VEDANTAM: Déjame mostrarte un poco de lo que Phil Cohen me dijo en términos de lo que también buscan los liberales que buscan a Rachel Maddow, en términos de su comida. VEDANTAM: O halde Phil Cohen'in Rachel Maddow'u arayan liberallerin de yiyecekleri açısından ne aradıkları konusunda bana biraz konuşmamı sağlayın.

PHIL COHEN: On the liberal list are arugula pasta, beets nutrition, beets urine, fake meat, fennel salad, firm tofu, a variety of vegetarian cooking, vegetarian recipes. PHIL COHEN: En la lista liberal están la pasta de rúcula, la nutrición de remolacha, la orina de remolacha, la carne falsa, la ensalada de hinojo, el tofu firme, una variedad de platos vegetarianos, recetas vegetarianas. PHIL COHEN:リベラルなリストには、アルグラパスタ、ビート栄養、ビート尿、偽肉、フェンネルサラダ、固い豆腐、さまざまなベジタリアン料理、ベジタリアンレシピがあります。 PHIL COHEN: Na lista liberal estão a massa de rúcula, nutrição de beterraba, urina de beterraba, carne falsa, salada de erva-doce, tofu firme, uma variedade de cozinha vegetariana, receitas vegetarianas.

Something like a Republican stereotype of what a liberal food diet might be. Algo así como un estereotipo republicano de lo que podría ser una dieta alimentaria liberal. Liberal bir gıda diyeti ne olabileceğini Cumhuriyetçi bir klişe gibi bir şey. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

VEDANTAM: I have to say, that’s a pretty funny list. VEDANTAM: Tengo que decir que es una lista bastante divertida. VEDANTAM: Söylemeliyim ki, bu oldukça eğlenceli bir liste.

WERTHEIMER: It is a very funny list.

So what does the other side eat? Entonces, ¿qué come el otro lado? VEDANTAM: So on the other side - what he found on the other side was not so much that people were searching for particular kinds of foods... VEDANTAM: Entonces, del otro lado, lo que encontró en el otro lado no fue tanto que la gente estuviera buscando tipos particulares de alimentos ... VEDANTAM: Öbür tarafta - diğer tarafta bulduğu şey o kadar değildi ki, insanlar belirli yiyecekleri arıyorlardı ...

COHEN: But things about dieting, acai berry diet, prescription weight loss and weight loss pills. COHEN: Pero cosas sobre la dieta, la dieta de acai berry, la pérdida de peso recetada y las píldoras para perder peso.

VEDANTAM: And so what it suggests is that when we think about our political orientations, we tend to think that our ideologies determine whether we’re Democrats or Republicans. VEDANTAM: Entonces, lo que sugiere es que cuando pensamos en nuestras orientaciones políticas, tendemos a pensar que nuestras ideologías determinan si somos demócratas o republicanos. ヴェダンタム:それが示唆しているのは、私たちが政治的志向について考えるとき、私たちのイデオロギーが私たちが民主党員であるか共和党員であるかを決定すると考える傾向があるということです。 VEDANTAM: Öyle ki, bizim politik yönelimlerimizi düşündüğümüzde, ideolojilerimizin Demokratlar mı, yoksa Cumhuriyetçiler mi olduğumuzu belirlediğini düşünüyoruz.

But I think what this research is at least hinting at, is the possibility that our political orientations are really a matter of our identities, are a matter of our cultures. しかし、この研究が少なくとも示唆しているのは、私たちの政治的方向性が本当に私たちのアイデンティティの問題であり、私たちの文化の問題である可能性だと思います。 Ama bu araştırmanın en azından ima ettiği şey, politik yönelimlerimizin gerçekten bizim kimliklerimizin bir konusu olması, kültürlerimizin bir meselesi olması. And so if you’re somebody who’s a vegetarian, who like beet salad, it’s very unlikely that you’re going to be a Republican. ですから、あなたが菜食主義者で、ビートサラダが好きな人なら、共和党員になる可能性はほとんどありません。 Ve eğer bir vejeteryan, pancar salatası seven biri iseniz, bir Cumhuriyetçi olacağınız pek olası değildir. WERTHEIMER: Data mining has always been helpful to political people. WERTHEIMER: Veri madenciliği politik insanlara her zaman yardımcı olmuştur.

That’s the thing I know the most about. En çok bildiğim şey bu. They look for who is subscribing to what publication. 彼らは誰がどの出版物を購読しているのかを探します。 Hangi yayına kimin abone olduğunu ararlar. They look to who drives what kind of car. Does this do something different? Bu farklı bir şey mi yapıyor? VEDANTAM: I don’t think it’s doing something qualitatively different. VEDANTAM: Kalitatif olarak farklı bir şey yaptığını sanmıyorum.

I think it’s just allowing political consultants - and I’m sure they must be using this tool - to get at this information much more quickly. Bence bu sadece politik danışmanlara izin veriyor - ve eminim ki bu aracı kullanmalılar - bu bilgiye daha çabuk ulaşmak için. So if you’re a political consultant who isn’t using Google Correlate, I actually think you’re probably being irresponsible. したがって、Google Correlateを使用していない政治コンサルタントの場合、実際にはおそらく無責任だと思います。 Yani, Google Correlate kullanmayan bir politik danışman iseniz, büyük ihtimalle sorumsuz olduğunuzu düşünüyorum.

Because what this is showing us is that if you’re a Democrat who’s trying to reach Democratic voters, one very effective way to do it is to organize something to do with vegetarian cooking. Bunun bize gösterdiği şey, Demokrat seçmenlere ulaşmaya çalışan bir Demokrat iseniz, bunu yapmanın çok etkili bir yolunun vejetaryen yemeklerle ilgili bir şeyler organize etmektir. And you can be pretty sure that almost everyone who shows up is going to be somebody who you want to talk to. Ve ortaya çıkan neredeyse herkesin konuşmak istediğin biri olacağından emin olabilirsin. WERTHEIMER: NPR’s science correspondent Shankar Vedantam. WERTHEIMER : NPR의 과학 특파원 인 Shankar Vedantam.

Shankar, thank you.

VEDANTAM: Thanks, Linda.