Over the years, Google has introduced many useful applications, but just recently I found one that I consider really awesome. I was reading a blog the other day that introduced me to Google timelines. In the past when performing some searches, I had noticed timelines within the results, but I don’t think I ever paid much attention to them. That has changed.
Google timelines uses a chronological graph to provide a gateway to search and explore historical archives of digital content. For example, if you search under ”New Hampshire” using Google, you can scroll down the bar graph. This represents the number of online sources about “New Hampshire” for a specified period. The height of the graph is directly proportional to the number searchable stories available for that time period.
There are a couple of ways to bore down for more information. You can click on a specific year or month to uncover results. Once you click on the timeline, you can also refine searches. For example, you can go beyond “New Hampshire” to create a historical timeline for “Dover, New Hampshire.”
To generate your own timelines, you can go directly to the Google News Archives search: http://news.google.com/archivesearch. For example, by typing “Liberia” into the search box you can create a timeline to cumulate related digital content. And your searches are not limited to geographic regions. For example, if you are research modern Poland, you can generate a timeline on the life of former Polish President Lech Walesa. Or, if looking for digital content about the Great Depression…well, you guessed it.
Some might flinch at links to Wikipedia, but you’ll also find pdfs of articles from the New York Times or Christian Science Monitor, as well as appropriate excerpts from digitized monographs. The timelines feature is a tool, not a panacea, but it certainly represents a good way to begin your research.
