« Mobile Phones for Children | Main | How to make your kids brush their teeth for longer »
July 06, 2005
Google and Language Use, Part II
Where I was content to speculate about the role of Google as a barometer and catalyst of language use, linguists at Language Log have been taken to both using and examining Google in the former capacity--as an access point to a wealth of information about how people use language. (See, among many others, "Is 'compound' code for 'cult'?" and "Pass the Hat").
But what about the second part of my speculation?--that Google influences language use both on- and off-line. This is of considerable interest to anyone following persuasive technology: a hugely popular service that rewards both searches and websites being indexed for particular language use is worth a close examination.
So here's a couple of links to commentary around the web on this very issue:
Joel Walsh posts at Search Engine Journal about Google's apparent use of heuristics that pick out "good writing" in determining rankings of search results.
Phil Robinson at Search Engine Watch reports on how Google is considering how language shortcuts and idiosyncrasies in text entered on mobile keyboards are important for search in the future.
Posted by Dean Eckles at July 6, 2005 09:44 PM