Wally Skalij/Getty Images: Shuttle passing Crenshaw Ave, Inglewood CA
As I sit here reflecting on 2012 while setting goals for 2013, my thoughts seem to rest on the German word Zeitgeist and how our culture and worlds are changing.
Looking at Google's 2012 Zeitgiest one can't help but notice we're moving away from Google searches of newspaper headlines, exposes, novels, and texts, towards a world of sound bites, technology and visual images.
"The Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time)
is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought which
typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time."
"Zeit·geist (ts t g st , z t -). n. The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation"
"(Historical Terms) the spirit, attitude, or general outlook of a
specific time or period, esp as it is reflected in literature,
philosophy, etc. "
Below are four different Zeitgeist 2012 impressions: Google's, The New York Times', YouTube's, and mine. With mine, however, I intentionally left out one component that I hope you'll help me with...but more about that later. First, enjoy Google, The New York Times, and YouTube's Zeitgeist 2012:
Google's Zeitgeist 2012 represents an "aggregation" of over one trillion searches typed into Google Search over 2012. Filtering out spam and repeat queries Google came up with 'top searches' the world performed over 2012. These 'top ten' lists, according to Google reflect the world's current Zeitgeist.
According to Google, "2012 was a year of big moments, from global games to historical elections and everything in between." Based on their analysis, Google's 'most searched' categories were:
Searches (Whitney Houston, Gangnam Style, Hurricane Sandy, iPad 3, Diablo 3, Kate Middleton, Olympics 2012, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, and BBB12)
Images (One Direction, Selena Gomez, iPhone 5, Megan Fox, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, Minecraft, Nicki Minaj, and Katy Perry )
Athletes (Jeremy Lin, Michael Phelps, Peyton Manning, McKayla Maroney, Junior Seau, Sarah Burke, Tom Daley, Lance Armstrong, Mario Balotelli, and Ryan Lochte)
Events (Hurricane Sandy, Kate Middleton, Olympics 2012, SOPA Debate, Costa Concordia crash, Presidential Debate, Stratosphere Jump, Penn State Scandal, Trayvon Martin shooting, Pussy Riots)
People (Whitney Houston, Kate Middleton, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, One Direction, Felix Baumgartner, Jeremy Lin, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Kony, and Donna Summer)
Feature Films (The Hunger Games, Skyfall, Prometheus, The Avengers, Magic Mike, John Carter, Ek Tha Tiger, Paranormal Activity 4, Taken 2, and Dark Shadows)
TV Shows (BBB12, Avenida Brasil, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, The Voice, American Idol, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Revenge, Cheias de Charme, and Carrossel)
Performing Artists (Whitney Houston, Michael Clarke Duncan, One Direction, Donna Summer, Lana Del Rey, Carolina Dieckmann, Dirk Bach, Carly Rae Jespen, Michel Telo, and LMFAO)
Consumer Electronics (iPad 3, Samsung Galaxy S3, iPad Mini, Nexus 7, Galaxy Note 2, Play Station, iPad 4, Microsoft Surface, Kindle Fire, and Nokia Lumia 920)
Videos (Gangnam Style, Somebody That I Used to Know by Walk of the Earth, KONY 2012, Call Me Maybe featuring Justin Bieber, Obama vs. Romney Epic Rap Battles of History, A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square, Why You Asking All Them Questions? Crystallize by Lindsey Stirling, Facebook Parenting: For the Troubled Teen, and Felix Baumgartner's Supersonic Free Fall)
Compelling evidence of how graphics are invading our homes, schools, papers and lives, The New York Times has collected infograhic representations of 2012 events. Here are a few of my favorites. Check the link above for their complete compilation.
[NOTE: As these are large graphic representations, I couldn't reproduce them here but they are WELL WORTH a LOOK.]
In short, over the past few years there have been some significant cultural changes that have resulted to a large extent from the explosion of the Internet and social networking.
As a result, comic books and graphic novels are becoming
core elements of our culture (with The New York Times now including
graphic novels in their Book Reviews). According to sales figures (calculated
by Comichron), year to date 2012 comic book and graphic novel sales (as
of September 2012) stood at 16.16% over 2011 Sales. Graphic novels host vibrant sections in book stores, libraries and classrooms, and their content extends way beyond superheroes, high school teens and detectives.
Visual literacy is also an integral aspect of our culture and is a central theme in the new Common Core Curricula mandated for schools across the
country. Information is now being relayed through visual images, and we
must help our kids learn to create, "read" and comprehend visual images as
well as, and in conjunction with, traditional text. We must understand how color, font and images
relay information, how to compose visual messages, and how to read charts and
infographics. [Over the next few months, I hope to blog more about
visual literacy and infographics and hope you join and contribute to the
dialogue.]
Whether we like it or not, visual and verbal communication in
short bursts over text messages,
twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, are now key elements of
communication, and we need to understand how best to use, compose and interpret them.
That said, here is my ZEITGEIST 2012 (minus one component I need your help with- can you guess which one it will be? Check for details below):
OLYMPICS 2012 (Compliments of Sports Illustrated):
Photo: Peter Read Miller/SI
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
WORLD EVENTS:
PBS "Storm of Debt and Downgrades"
PBS: "China Looks to the Future"
PBS: "Beached Concordia"
AP/Ng Han Guan: North Korea's Kim Jong Un
AP Photo/Altaf Qadri: Mynamar's Aung San Suu Kyi
Thetimes.co.uk: Athens riots
AP/Manish Swarup: Tibetan protester in New Delhi
NASA/Reuters/Robert Markowitz: Last Shuttle flight
Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images: President Obama on Rosa Parks bus at Henry Ford Museum 4/18/12
Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori: Benghazi- US Consulate burns
The Atlantic: damaged Aleppo's Salaheddin neighborhood, Syria
Reuters/Yves Herman: Milk Protest, Brussels
Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany: Anti-Mursi Protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo 11/27/12
Scout Tufankjian/Obama for America: "Four More Years"
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images: Loser's Concession Speech
Reuters/Phillip Andrews: The Winner
HURRICANE SANDY:
Reuters/Eric Thayer: Hurricane Sandy:Seaside Heights, New Jersey
Iwan Baan/Getty Images:Sandy hits NYC
AP/John Minchillo: Sandy hits Ground Zero
IMAGES OF SPACE 2012: from the International Space Station, Curiosity rove, Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer - they are mind-boggling, breath-taking inspiring, and worth your time and viewing:
ENTERTAINMENT:
This is where I need your help. I am leaving this open intentionally. Please leave YOUR IDEAS of 2012's epic ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS AND PERSONALITIES (in the comments)- from music, television, shows, movies, plays and art - those that YOU think best represents 2012. I will compile and post the most mentioned songs, artists, events, films, TV shows, plays, etc. in the space below.
Check back next week to see how we've addressed this component of 2012 Zeitgeist!
Your ENTERTAINMENT choices: As of January 28th, Gangnam Style has won in the comments with honorable mention for Justin Bieber and "Me So You So Me" Here are some links.
First, Gangnam Style (note that the English translation is just too racy for me and so be forewarned):
And for the older 'classic' fans "Me So You So Me":
And if you want more resources, here are additional links to THE BEST images of 2012:
As always, thank you for your visits, and please leave your impressions of Zeitgeist ENTERTAINMENT 2012 in the comments.
[Note: In compiling this post I have taken images from various sources and have tried my best to acknowledge original sources. If you have any further citation information for the images above, please leave the information in the comments and I will address them appropriately.]
