Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

Jean-Baptiste Michel; Yuan Kui Shen; Aviva Presser Aiden; Adrian Veres; Matthew K. Gray; The Google Books Team; Joseph P. Pickett; Dale Hoiberg; Dan Clancy; Peter Norvig; Jon Orwant; Steven Pinker; Martin A. Nowak; Erez Lieberman Aiden

doi:10.1126/science.1199644

Research Article

Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

Jean-Baptiste Michel¹,²,³,⁴,⁵,*,†,
Yuan Kui Shen²,⁶,⁷,
Aviva Presser Aiden²,⁶,⁸,
Adrian Veres²,⁶,⁹,
Matthew K. Gray¹⁰,
The Google Books Team¹⁰,
Joseph P. Pickett¹¹,
Dale Hoiberg¹²,
Dan Clancy¹⁰,
Peter Norvig¹⁰,
Jon Orwant¹⁰,
Steven Pinker⁵,
Martin A. Nowak¹,¹³,¹⁴,
Erez Lieberman Aiden¹,²,⁶,¹⁴,¹⁵,¹⁶,¹⁷,*,†

¹Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
²Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁴Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁵Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁶Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁷Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁸Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁹Harvard College, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁰Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
¹¹Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA 02116, USA.
¹²Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, IL 60654, USA.
¹³Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁴Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁵Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁶School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁷Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

↵†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jb.michel{at}gmail.com (J.-B.M.); erez{at}erez.com (E.L.A.)

↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Science 14 Jan 2011:
Vol. 331, Issue 6014, pp. 176-182
DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644

Jean-Baptiste Michel

Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

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For correspondence: jb.michel@gmail.comerez@erez.com

Yuan Kui Shen

Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

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Aviva Presser Aiden

Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.

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Adrian Veres

Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Harvard College, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Matthew K. Gray

Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

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Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Joseph P. Pickett

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA 02116, USA.

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Dale Hoiberg

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, IL 60654, USA.

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Dan Clancy

Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

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Peter Norvig

Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

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Jon Orwant

Google, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

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Steven Pinker

Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

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Martin A. Nowak

Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Erez Lieberman Aiden

Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Cultural Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Laboratory-at-Large, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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For correspondence: jb.michel@gmail.comerez@erez.com

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Abstract

We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were reflected in the English language between 1800 and 2000. We show how this approach can provide insights about fields as diverse as lexicography, the evolution of grammar, collective memory, the adoption of technology, the pursuit of fame, censorship, and historical epidemiology. Culturomics extends the boundaries of rigorous quantitative inquiry to a wide array of new phenomena spanning the social sciences and the humanities.

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Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books

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