A Map of the Newspaper World?

I just found out today about newspaper map, a new website that lays out and links to literally thousands of newspapers around the world.  Not only that, but they're adding historical content as well!  There's even a mobile version of the site for use on tablets and smartphones.

The premise is simple - this is a Google Maps mashup website.  That is, they took location data for all of the newspapers they could, and put location markers on top of Google Maps all over the world.  Each newspaper they have located is represented by a colored pin on the map.  Clicking that pin brings up a link box to that newspaper's home page, as well as (in many cases) translations into various languages.  The color of the pin indicates the original language of the newspaper.  The link box frequently includes the date range the newspaper was published as well.

Right now, with over 10,000 newspapers included, there's a good chance you can find one near where you're looking.  Historical coverage is more spotty at this time, but they're working on adding more content, and there's actually a button to add or correct information if you have it.

The site is still beta, meaning there are some rough edges, and performance can be slow, but this looks like a very promising tool for research in the months and years to come.  Check it out!




This and all other articles on this blog are © copyright 2011 by Daniel G. Dillman