Everyone in the tech blogosphere is going crazy about the week-old Google Insights for Search feature. People have been arguing over the provincialism of TechCrunch and Twitter but I thought I’d try to plug in the term “art” minus “clip art” (which skew the results) and came out with this interesting map about the regional interest of art across the U.S. and the world.
What is Google Insights for Search? According to Andrew Chen:
It’s basically Google Trends on steroids, and shows you a ton of data on any search you try. An SEO wizard’s dream, basically. It’s described as:
With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.
Basically you put in keywords and it give you pretty charts.
Hell, I love pretty things…I’m sold! Here’s the pretty U.S. chart:
The American top 10:
- New York
- Washington
- California
- Oregon
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Pennsylvania
- Colorado
- New Mexico
- Ohio
No surprise that New York tops the list though I didn’t expect Washington to be number 2 and Oregon to check in at 4. I am a little confused as to why Washington, DC or Virginia didn’t make the list considering the excellent art institutions in the region but hey, maybe it’s really just a tourist thing. It is quite remarkable that with the exception of a little disinterest in the middle of the country, art has broad appeal…yeah for the art world! Not exactly an elite interest I’d say.
Check out the full U.S. results here (saved August 12, 2008).
Now for the pretty world chart:
And while there is obviously an English-language bias in the results it’s amazing that the U.S. comes out on top! Here’s the top 10:
- USA
- Australia
- New Zealand
- UK
- Canada
- South Africa
- Ireland
- Philippines
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Singapore
The fact that even without broad public arts funding the U.S. comes out on top is amazing–in contrast to the U.K. or Canada where there is so much more money for this stuff. Though I can’t say I’m surprised because often public funding kills and doesn’t nurture the arts in the way that many of us dream it would. Anyone who has filled out a governmental arts grant application will know why.
Check out the full global results here (saved August 12, 2008).
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