Cultural Heritage Topics in Online Queries: A Comparison between English- and Polish-Speaking Internet Users

Abstract

New communication channels and methods for retrieving information can provide increasingly precise data describing how cultural heritage is perceived, protected, promoted, and shared. Many internet users search for cultural-heritage-related topics using online search engines and databases. The purpose of this study was to identify the context and frequency of cultural heritage topics in Google search engine queries. The primary hypothesis was that keywords used in Google searches related to cultural heritage would be much more diversified in English than in Polish, perhaps because Polish has many fewer internet users than English. The keywords were selected because of their frequent use in the research literature, popular science publications, and central and local government strategy documents. The research employed selected online applications. A total of 3690 keywords were collected, with 1634 (44.3%) in Polish and 2056 (55.7%) in English. The numbers of retrieved keywords were similar for all research tools, but an in-depth analysis identified certain differences in the functions of the tools. The “cultural heritage” keyword in Polish (“dziedzictwo kulturowe”) was found mostly in national, regional, and local contexts. English queries included topics related to cultural heritage protection, conservation, restoration, and management and the financial value of cultural heritage. Some queries focused on world cultural heritage. The research shows that Polish-speaking users and English-speaking ones were interested in similar phrases. Therefore, the thought processes of internet users may be independent of their language.