Just in the nick of time, the Google Books Ngram Viewer has graduated from Google Labs to become a full-fledged part of Google Books. The Ngram Viewer allows users to see how often a word or phrase has been used in books across history. Google Books contains millions of books dating back to the year 1400; “over 10% of all books ever published,” according to the Ngram Viewer announcement.
Last month, Google announced that Google Labs, which allowed Google developers and users to “field test” experimental Web projects, will be phased out. Many Labs experiments will be sidelined, but the Ngram Viewer made it.
Changing media types.An Ngram Viewer search plotting the mentions of major communication technologies between 1800 and 2000.
The Ngram Viewer joins a handful of other features that make Google Books interactive and immersive. In June, Google added doodling to a select group of its e-books. Back in 2009, Google offered rights owners the option to offer their books under Creative Commons licensing, so the public can share and remix them. Google’s efforts to digitize the world’s books have created their fair share of consternation in the publishing world, but they sure have given us access to some wonderful data.
Major religions of the world.
Nerds, Dorks, Geeks and Dweebs.
