PageRank in Other Societal Aspects
In 1998, two Stanford students introduced the idea of PageRank as the basis for their search engine, Google. This algorithm would be able to sort results based on relevance and quality. David Gleich describes Google’s PageRank: “It’s sort of like Google invented a lens; if you have different combinations of lenses, you can look at all kinds of different systems”. How PageRank works is that it determines the importance of a subject based on the page’s hyperlinks. Besides the original role that PageRank plays as a webpage “filter”, it also serves as an important tool in a variety of other fields such as literature, sports and science.
PageRank’s impact has reached beyond its cyberspace border and made its mark on other societal aspects. A University of Nebraska professor utilized PageRank, along with other software, in figuring out the “most influential” 19th century authors. After analyzing over 3,600 novels, PageRank helped conclude that Jane Austen and Walter Scott were the most influential. In terms of sports, one researcher used PageRank to determine the best tennis player since 1968. He analyzed all the matches, created a network from which he developed a “prestige score”. It is assumed that a fan follows a player/team until they are defeated, at which point they begin rooting for another player/team. This is very similar to the thought process of someone surfing the web. The brain, like the web, has many networks. It makes sense as to why a neuroscientist would use PageRank to better understand the connections between regions of the brain.