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Chris Harrison | SearchClock

chrisharrison.net · 1,419 words · saved by 1 readers

I was curious about how people used the internet. Specifically, I wanted to see how internet behavior changed over the course of a day. Search engines are the gateway to the internet for most people, and so search queries provide insight into what people are doing and thinking. I had several assumptions before I started: I was curious to see if data from search engines would support my anecdotal observations. I built a simple clock-like visualization that displays the top search terms over a 24-hour period. Displaying search terms in a cyclical layout (like a clock) allows continuous examination of trends that would otherwise be broken up. The data I had access to was both large and noisy. In response, I combined hourly data into week or year averages. All search strings were broken up into single words (period, commas and similar were considered whitespace as well). This helped pool frequent terms, and better illuminate search motivation (e.g. “information about taxes” and “informatio

Search Clock I was curious about how people used the internet. Specifically, I wanted to see how internet behavior changed over the course of a day. Search engines are the gateway to the internet for most people, and so search queries provide insight into what people are doing and thinking. I had several assumptions before I started: Overall, internet usage is highest during the day, tapers off at night, and reaches a lull in the early morning hours. People search for information during the workday (8-6ish) People socialize or look for information of personal interest when they get home…

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