Two items to report on from the Googleplex today.

1) At the end of April, 2009, Google announced that they would start adding “public” data to search results “when available.” They launched with a couple of datasets from the U.S. Census and the U.S. Department of Labor. Here’s a Census result and one with labor data. Trigger words that would show the data have to be precise. For example, unemployment in California does not return a result with labor stats but unemployment Rate in California does.

It would be very useful for info pros and researchers if Google would provide a list of what data sets are available and what trigger words have to be used to get results that include “public data.”

Since the initial launch we’ve heard almost nothing about the program until today.

As of today, Google’s main database includes content (17 development indicators to be precise) from the World Bank’s Development Indicators (WDI) (2009 edition that looks as if it will be updated regularly). The complete WDI has over 800 indicators. Although the full text book is fee-based they do make some indicators available in this free “Quick Query” database and this VERY COOL WDI visualization tool.

The Google blog post points out seven indicators and the terms to trigger them:
1) [gdp of indonesia]
2 [life expectancy brazil]
3) [rwanda's population growth]
4) [energy use of iceland]
5) [co2 emissions of iceland]
6) [gdp growth rate argentina].
7) [internet users in the united states]

Here’s a search for GDP of Canada and as promised, you see the stat and a graph at the top of the page. If you click on the graph, you’ll be taken to a page where you can select a country or countries and see a graph comparing the statistic. Here’s an example. Links to email, IM, etc. as a well as code to embed the graph are located top right on the graph, “labeled ” link.

The indicators are:
+ CO2 emissions per capita
+ Energy use per capita
+ Electricity consumption per capita
+ Exports as percentage of GDP
+ Fertility rate
+ GNI per capita in PPP dollars
+ Gross Domestic Product
+ Gross National Income in PPP dollars
+ GDP deflator change
+ GDP growth rate
+ Imports as percentage of GDP
+ Internet users as percent of population
+ Life expectancy
+ Military expenditure as percentage of GDP
+ Mortality rate, under 5
+ Population
+ Population growth rate

Almost forgot. The two datasets that Google began the program with from the U.S. Census and Dept. of Labor are still available. According to this page, no new content from these organizations have been added to the database.

2) In other Google news, the company released a new feature allowing their SafeSearch filter to be “locked down in the “Strict Search” mode, the highest level of filtering. A password is required to change the setting. Additionally, pages will have drawings of colored balls (in Google’s colors) on them to indicate that Strict Search is on and locked.

From a Blog Post:

Even from across the room, the colored balls give parents and teachers a clear visual cue that SafeSearch is still locked. And if you don’t see them, it’s quick and easy to verify and re-lock SafeSearch.

To change settings, head to the “search settings” page. If you’re going to use the new “search lock” feature, it would also be a good idea to take a look at this 95 second video.

Although it’s unlikely that Google would release the numbers, we wonder what the adoption rate of this service will be in 4-6 months. Will schools use it in addition to any third party filtering they use? Will Google continually market the service (perhaps even with paid ads) or will it only get major attention in the search industry press for a few days?

Source: Official Google Blog