Animal rights in the "new media ecology"

One of the most interesting parts of Pearson and Trevisan's article "Disability activism in the new media ecology: Campaigning strategies in the digital era" was the authors' use of quantitative data. It can be hard to gather and utilize quantitative data in the humanities, and it's not seen very much in my experience -- frankly, I think a lot of scholars could really strengthen their arguments by grounding them in data. However, Pearson and Trevisan effortlessly and impactfully integrate quantitative data into this paper. I was especially intrigued by the use of Google Trends data to prove increased public awareness of and interest in disability rights, as explained on page 9.

I was curious about what Google Trends would reveal about the animal rights movement. As it turns out, Google Trends is a fascinating resource with a wealth of intriguing information. I decided to look at something straightforward: searches for "animal rights" in the United States over the past five years. I was curious what the rise and fall of interest could be attributed to.

With more time and resources, I would love to investigate this more thoroughly. Today, though, I decided just to try to find the cause of the most recent peak in interest, which was April 24-30, 2022.

Scrolling down, the "related topics" and "relating queries" sections, when set to "rising," suggested that people were searching for the answer to a crossword clue.

I investigated further, using advanced Google search to find results for "animal rights" from April 2022. I found a number of news stories, the most notable being a report that the Supreme Court refused to review a decision to strike down a Kansas ag-gag law. Ag-gag laws are laws that essentially make it illegal to whistleblow instances of animal cruelty, abuse, or neglect in agricultural facilities. I assume this major news story was the cause of the spike.

This was a really fun investigation! I can absolutely see how Google Trends is a useful tool for activists to gauge public interest in and perception of their cause, and also one of the most accessible and user-friendly.