Examining Models
INFOGRAPHIC
Nickolay Lamm, The History of Music
Digital artist Nickolay Lamm created this series of infographics first by looking at Billboard’s “Year-End Hot 100” list of songs since 1960. He then tracked the appearance of specific words—love, for example, and kiss—in the most popular songs through 2013, constructing a graphical representation of each word’s use over time. According to Lamm, “Each cell represents a song. The more red a song is, the more often that particular word appears in the song.”
Source: nickolaylamm.com/thoughts/the-history-of-music
Reading the Genre
Question
jOeAWqh8+A2UMF6dIZL2FgWJCX87Qlyhfdvj+AZG6zu6oLtJ0k3JrIkvLbRKn3RAYtS8K85Ujwk49BPhJDdUxG4lXfIFym41Y3JEyJeqQHGlmXGbYh3eOINT86nnG4C4RentNxnTCnqoJUwJKLzWTUnpjzKLCxE9PXL2g66TfR0LFj5VdSOjeOxwZLcrPThhH4X5O/4cyqxDiKCJ9Gpt52c/2wfpZVyu5I6sxqOGos8qpkqmJlfOqRYKSPVnZ1goWCeyW/E5eHQNMEkoZn0FvqAw9gGKqea2shU9sEupzjKH9CHqas0aUMJCGDN6YUrhOne possible answer might be: lonely, wait, hold. The additional information would show how often words less positively associated with love show up in popular music. Comparing the frequency of those words with the more positive terms might show how optimistic (or not) popular music was about love in a given time period.
Question
ZrGQxdVVHG9eMcxmSC66uEqTBVAshU0EC8+R7pPnkzt17P56AY1nQPkxsUYCBiB9Tjjfm123u1BAk15rEci+VRrRTIMJmyY7r5BtnCmtF/c2TnJ4t2EUuYKgxPzcvAi4TCzui+M+L85UWa1V3u/xd2IEDgIa8oUvgbGR79jH21vXdSz12x3V/glr05pp1Yrazd4KImaz49NIAugbBLe35SFRpdToZrw2Ef9A4GoceetCBOXn9OvA+0iQC3ls8H+fQpz6Lu8o2HPNLRgR+r/PYFEIZG3ue7SxF9pLAPQswIDK9pXrOne possible answer might be: While the design is clear, I would add a version that includes several words at once, with different colors becoming stronger as each word shows up more often. That way, a more direct comparison could be made among three or four words at once.
Question
yClP3PZ91vg458/ZtSfi9xGF9wbvRXEUoqaBna3fAYe0fvEJtIC+hod/Jup/y67u5JPrDZpWvmxe/FCLHttIujTykD/SGWLHyK7A2A8rj2AJal8KqzOQMCQd5bejT12nvptig0zU78FTZb8wA9Ih9zfUvbnGhtuLvrovo53tjFZCHnMYE4I3hncXXTWARve1W7ZU1P4sZpmSgBEELpdPqpiPHR0hXZcjcAij2CfEZxC4eh7io77OmToTS2iX1gcgKrwZStWrP0uGaNDk62f2hFK7+6yYDPObk/+n4PQyPOUv9Ir9ezKo9KWdGGA6xWcogEu0S5McfhFaueKqP1ICxlF/R/I3Fm23a8x88CmHzlX329SFpGgbTFfkv1pGVTUdmTwbKBDcd/auiHHoT/940Qcr7Pb3hsAa2scejkKzK3M1dCV+bLZRRM+uNmvzUeU868LIRcRDWZ7uhfRxCmB/jmn6hSb1sKaALCIxKw==One possible answer might be: One conclusion about pop music might be that our obsession with love has become more about the specific acts associated with it and less about the feelings behind it. The increase in popularity of online dating sites geared towards people with specific tastes supports this conclusion—sites that promise to provide a better match are becoming less popular than those geared towards hooking up.
Question
EG0gqiQyubkhLbXLPE4umamkO6sNcjgyRq/8j0A5UFeBtO0P2fPsvxqflWbpmSoh1oezpXarD3TtS4Qh3kDWQ7V6eF934H/GnCIX1EkX6u7FO93nV4lnyNf7xNtOCyWyDf7HWjOgT5nThDLLPkGHuF/yUaWAvRbYOZ58uE23NqUBwz0fWWrsd4k2lU2RKyfSc7eRMPjMSjwSxJxYUmZSiGixEXQIyPX1JNOXMVpZ4JFqZrUerqCS7zgEM+fnhiLpPe0rePt+dgFWHYVFa6Sud8yatkYGQcZkLkH1PxwiKNIUYyNwIXHlCIrlbLUAbhh/xTEsIQXkhmc7RMVr6o15ivl+NrLNGSjdUrH+dJcicxxi8kVJIcFzVZrKEBwAzZMm+EadbOPmR7V6TRzRBwngnY/wo+vucpR+H0YRRQ==One possible answer might be: The three words baby, body, and boys show up differently in books than in songs—in part probably because all are used in the context of many situations other than love. Body is more popular by far than either baby or boys, although baby has increased in frequency since 1960.