Google`s Latest Moves in Information Indexing - Getting Your Timeline Straight
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Our company CTO told me about this one. It seems to be a lot less controversial than other topics I've discussed in this article. It could certainly help students with their history homework, to say nothing of re-enacters and other serious amateur historians. It's a new command, "view:timeline," that you can use at the end of a query for a historical perspective.
It looks as if this is actually still in Google Labs. It seems to be one of the different ways that Google sorts and arranges data in order to give you a deeper perspective. Here's a screen shot:
Near the top you can see options for several different views (list view, info view, timeline view, and map view). It's the timeline view that we're focusing on. As you can see in the image, you have a timeline with sections you can click on, and a search box that lets you set a filter to a particular time period. You can use the arrows if you want to move back or forward in time from the default.
For example, say I want to find out more about the US in the early 1800s. I click on that link in the timeline, and the results change. The first result leads to the US Constitution, with explanatory notes. The second link, from FullBooks.com, seems to go to a book chapter focused on that era. The fourth link, from kansasheritage.org, details treaties between the Potawatomi and the US. On the second page, I find information on the Louisiana Purchase, a link from the Thomas Jefferson Papers, and more.
The view:timeline command works with more than just countries. I tried it for IBM and Sears Roebuck; sure enough, I got timelines and relevant results. It also works with certain concepts that have "history" behind them. I turned up timelines for automobiles, computers, and space travel; for you sports fans, view:timeline also works with baseball. The view:timeline command did not work with Google itself, however. I guess the company doesn't have quite enough history yet. Indeed It doesn't, by certain strict definitions; my college history professors told me that the dividing line between history and current events is 25 years before the current date.
Whatever you may think of Google's latest moves, it's a fair bet that the company will be around in some form long enough to develop a respectable timeline and history. It has changed the way we look for information, and continues to evolve.
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