Tag: Public attention

• Which places get Parliament’s attention?

  

  A century of Hansard and 1,596 UK towns. London took 49% of the Commons’ town mentions in the 1910s and 18% in the 2010s, yet where a place stands is still mostly about the place itself.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Britain, cities, Hansard, London, Parliament, Present day, Public attention, Text mining, Twentieth century, UK

• The half-life of fame: what happens to our attention after a notable person dies

  

  I followed the English Wikipedia articles of 16,397 people who died between 2016 and 2023. In the month of a death the typical article is read 14.9 times as much as usual; two to three years later it is back to 0.98 of its old level. People who died young keep the most.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Before and after test, Britain, Famous people, population, Present day, Public attention, technology, Wikidata, Wikipedia, World

• Does Parliament notice disasters, and whose?

  

  I counted, month by month, how often the House of Commons named the places of 64 UK disasters between 1910 and 2020. Attention jumps to 10 times its usual level in the month of a disaster and mostly fades within the year. Bigger death tolls bring more attention, but less than in proportion.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Before and after test, Britain, Hansard, Natural hazards, Parliament, Public attention, Twentieth century, UK, weather and climate

• Do by-elections make Parliament listen?

  

  I followed 366 UK by-elections through a century of Hansard. Around polling day the Commons mentions the town 4.0 times as often as similar towns, and a year later still 1.9 times. Before 1945, no detectable rise.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Before and after test, Britain, elections, Hansard, Parliament, Present day, Public attention, Twentieth century, UK

• Who gets talked about? What the public looks up on Wikipedia, and what Parliament talks about

  

  I set a year of Wikipedia reading against twenty-one years of Commons debate for 1,425 UK towns and cities. The two mostly agree, but a town with a seat named after it gets 2.2 times the mentions, and Welsh places are talked about more, not less.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Britain, Hansard, Parliament, Present day, Public attention, technology, Text mining, UK, Wikipedia