Software digs up buzzwords old and new
Source: CNN.com
Computer scientist Jon Kleinberg is taking a virtual stroll down the information superhighway, surfing cyberspace for verbal megatrends.
Did you wince?
Those hopelessly passe terms were passably hip just a few years back. Then, due to overuse or a feckless public, they fell out of fashion. (Linguists suspect Al Gore of wearing out the superhighway quip.)
Kleinberg's research is really rather scientific. He uses algorithms to identify sudden jumps in the use of words, offering a glimpse into the mechanics of language evolution -- what makes a word hot, or not.
"It's a fun tool to aim at things and see what happens," says Kleinberg, a Cornell University associate professor.
