GLAM Workbench
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Trove newspapers: data dashboard¶

Trove's collection of digitised newspapers is always changing – new articles and newspapers are being added by the NLA, while Trove users are busy correcting OCRd text and adding tags and comments. The search you run today might produce different results than the same query did a month ago, a year ago, or ten years ago. Researchers need to understand how these changes affect the queries they make, the results they find, and the arguments they construct. This dashboard helps researchers understand the context of their queries by presenting a snapshot of Trove's digitised newspapers, based on weekly data harvests. It shows Trove's current make up from a number of angles, as well as highlighting recent changes. It is updated every Sunday.

  • Total articles and user activity
  • Total articles by publication year
  • Total articles by publication year and state
  • Article categories
  • Newspaper titles
  • Total articles by publication state
  • Significant events
Last updated: Sunday, 30 July 2023

Total articles and user activity¶

Latest data harvest 30 July 2023
First data harvest 24 April 2022
Total harvests 67
Data https://github.com/wragge/trove-newspaper-totals/blob/master/data/total_articles_by_activity.csv

As of 30 July 2023 there are 240,308,004 digitised newspaper articles in Trove.

  Current total Change since 23 Jul 2023 Change since 02 Jul 2023 Change since 24 Apr 2022 Percentage of total
All articles 240,308,004 146,943 706,823 5,795,914 100.00%
Articles with corrections 14,968,253 17,147 65,593 1,112,714 6.23%
Articles with tags 4,782,995 4,263 20,305 380,001 1.99%
Articles with comments 267,493 574 1,819 28,802 0.11%

Total articles by publication year¶

Latest data harvest 30 July 2023
First data harvest 19 April 2022
Total harvests 63
Data https://github.com/wragge/trove-newspaper-totals/blob/master/data/total_articles_by_year.csv

This chart shows the total number of digitised newspaper articles by year of publication. The distribution will change over time as digitisation priorities shift and more newspapers are added. This chart is useful in understanding how digitisation priorities and copyright restraints have shaped the total newspaper corpus.


Total articles by publication year and state¶

Latest data harvest 30 July 2023
First data harvest 19 April 2022
Total harvests 63
Data https://github.com/wragge/trove-newspaper-totals/blob/master/data/total_articles_by_year_and_state.csv

This interactive chart helps you explore the distribution of articles by both publication year and state. Click on a state in the bar chart or legend to filter the results by year. Click anywhere in the background of the chart to reset. This enables you to compare digitisation patterns in different states and see how they contribute to the whole corpus.

Total articles added since 23 Jul 2023 by publication year and state

This chart shows the total number of digitised newspaper articles added since the previous harvest by year and place of publication. It's useful in seeing how search results from particular time periods and locations might be affected by current digitisation priorities.

Total articles added since 19 Apr 2022 by publication year and state

This chart shows the total number of digitised newspaper articles added since the first harvest by year and place of publication. It's useful in seeing how search results from particular time periods or locations might be affected by recent digitisation priorities.


Article categories¶

Latest data harvest 30 July 2023
First data harvest 20 April 2022
Total harvests 68
Data https://github.com/wragge/trove-newspaper-totals/blob/master/data/total_articles_by_category.csv
  Current total Change since 23 Jul 2023 Change since 02 Jul 2023 Change since 20 Apr 2022 Percentage of total
Advertising 44,985,007 30,922 166,829 1,483,300 18.720%
Article 166,627,427 99,370 468,764 3,834,967 69.339%
Arts And Culture 4,429 7 36 1,059 0.002%
Classified Advertisements And Notices 1,510 0 4 87 0.001%
Commerce And Business 5,173 37 110 2,177 0.002%
Detailed Lists, Results, Guides 26,717,468 15,898 66,227 465,507 11.118%
Display Advertisement 495 0 0 31 0.000%
Editorial 17,425 32 276 4,018 0.007%
Family Notices 1,990,865 844 5,273 56,062 0.828%
Humour 33,509 531 1,369 6,001 0.014%
Law, Courts, And Crime 11,161 34 83 1,698 0.005%
Letters 13,470 17 55 1,460 0.006%
Literature 36,001 6 43 1,039 0.015%
News 12,807 35 106 2,389 0.005%
Obituaries 14,168 34 156 3,035 0.006%
Official Appointments And Notices 1,178 7 22 113 0.000%
Puzzles 50,593 91 736 10,661 0.021%
Reviews 2,841 65 128 860 0.001%
Shipping Notices 2,793 17 62 988 0.001%
Sport And Games 19,781 31 272 5,241 0.008%
Weather 16,401 94 679 7,044 0.007%

Newspaper titles¶

Latest data harvest 30 July 2023
First data harvest 20 April 2022
Total harvests 65
Data https://github.com/wragge/trove-newspaper-totals/blob/master/data/total_articles_by_newspaper.csv

As of 30 July 2023 there are 1,781 different newspapers in Trove.

Total newspapers 1,781
Earliest publication date 05 March 1803
Latest publication date 19 December 2022

Newspapers by state of publication¶

This chart shows the place of publication of newspaper titles in Trove.

Changes in the number of newspapers by state of publication¶

  Current total Change since 23 Jul 2023 Change since 02 Jul 2023 Change since 20 Apr 2022 Percentage of total
ACT 8 0 0 0 0.43%
International 13 0 0 0 0.70%
National 9 0 0 4 0.49%
New South Wales 547 0 8 32 29.49%
Northern Territory 8 0 0 0 0.43%
Queensland 107 0 1 3 5.77%
South Australia 156 1 1 2 8.41%
Tasmania 115 0 0 0 6.20%
Victoria 436 0 0 29 23.50%
Western Australia 382 0 0 32 20.59%

Newspapers added since 23 Jul 2023

title_id title state total link
1869 Direct Action (Adelaide, NSW : 1928 - 1930) South Australia 495.000000 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1869

Newspapers added since 02 Jul 2023

title_id title state total link
1856 Northern Planter (Ingham, Qld. : 1907 - 1908) Queensland 2949.000000 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1856
1861 The Pastoral Times and Deniliquin and Moama Reporter (NSW : 1863) New South Wales 657.000000 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1861
1869 Direct Action (Adelaide, NSW : 1928 - 1930) South Australia 495.000000 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1869

Changes in the number of articles from newspapers since 23 Jul 2023

title_id title change in articles link
88 Queanbeyan Age (NSW : 1927 - 1971) 35,886 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title88
1492 Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951) 11,097 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1492
1850 The Braidwood and Araluen Express (NSW : 1899 - 1907) 13,100 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1850
1852 Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955) 86,861 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1852

Changes in the number of articles from newspapers since 02 Jul 2023

title_id title change in articles link
88 Queanbeyan Age (NSW : 1927 - 1971) 132,194 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title88
302 Williamstown Advertiser (Vic. : 1875 - 1954) 29,400 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title302
370 Port Lincoln Times (SA : 1927 - 1965; 1992 - 2002) 25,768 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title370
382 Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (NSW : 1858 - 1859; 1866; 1872 - 1875) 2,089 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title382
548 Corryong Courier (Vic. : 1894 - 1945) 39,058 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title548
604 Rutherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser (Vic. : 1886 - 1957) 5,935 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title604
616 Upper Murray and Mitta Herald (Vic. : 1885 - 1955) 118,661 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title616
701 Wagga Wagga Express (NSW : 1875 - 1876; 1879; 1890; 1892 - 1917) 4,387 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title701
1492 Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951) 11,097 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1492
1775 The Berrigan Advocate (Cobram, NSW. : 1891 - 1969) 10,549 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1775
1839 Woodend Star and Macedon Advocate (Vic. : 1942 - 1955) 3 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1839
1850 The Braidwood and Araluen Express (NSW : 1899 - 1907) 37,602 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1850
1852 Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955) 272,057 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1852
1857 The Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph (Deniliquin, NSW : 1859 - 1861) 2,424 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title1857

Total articles by publication state¶

Data about the number of articles by publication place (state) is available both from the main result API using the state facet, and from the newspaper API. As noted under Significant events, these totals don't always agree. I've included both below, so you can compare.

Number of articles by state of publication (via result API)¶

Number of articles by state of publication (via newspaper API)¶

Changes in the number of articles by state of publication (via result API)¶

  Current total Change since 23 Jul 2023 Change since 02 Jul 2023 Change since 19 Apr 2022 Percentage of total
ACT 3,296,997 0 0 0 1.372%
International 854,022 0 0 2,842 0.355%
National 657,326 0 0 204,582 0.274%
New South Wales 82,996,619 146,448 484,555 96,946 34.538%
Northern Territory 409,433 0 0 0 0.170%
Queensland 41,131,526 0 2,949 41,590 17.116%
South Australia 24,984,163 495 26,263 421,308 10.397%
Tasmania 15,850,246 0 0 74 6.596%
Victoria 44,756,860 0 193,056 4,493,965 18.625%
Western Australia 25,364,142 0 0 674,340 10.555%

Changes in the number of articles by state of publication (via newspaper API)¶

  Current total Change since 23 Jul 2023 Change since 02 Jul 2023 Change since 19 Apr 2022 Percentage of total
ACT 3,296,997 0 0 0 1.372%
International 854,022 0 0 0 0.355%
National 663,996 0 0 211,837 0.276%
New South Wales 82,996,619 146,448 521,484 1,062,962 34.538%
Northern Territory 409,433 0 0 0 0.170%
Queensland 41,131,526 0 2,949 41,590 17.116%
South Australia 24,984,163 495 26,263 423,384 10.397%
Tasmania 15,850,246 0 0 74 6.596%
Victoria 44,756,860 0 193,056 3,213,805 18.625%
Western Australia 25,364,142 0 0 994,780 10.555%

Significant events¶

While the changes documented here generally reflect the addition of new articles and newspapers, the total numbers can also be affected by system configuration and optimisation events, such as rebuilding the index. It's difficult to highlight these sorts of anomalies in the charts above, but where I notice them I'll add a note here.

31 May 2022 – reindex?¶

Between the harvests on 29 May and 5 June 2022 there was a dramatic change in the distribution of articles by state (using the state facet). The number of articles from NSW decreased by 939,065, and the number of articles from Victoria increased by 961,387. There were also some smaller changes affecting other states. There was a scheduled maintenance window on 31 May, which makes me think that these reflect changes in the underlying search index, rather than the actual number of articles. Further evidence for this is the fact that the number of articles per state calculated by using the newspaper API endpoint were out-of-sync with the article totals until the end of May. Since then, both sets of article totals have remained in sync. So, in short, the number of articles returned by the state facet between 19 April 2022 (when my harvests started) and 31 May 2022 can't be trusted.


Created by Tim Sherratt for the GLAM Workbench. Support this project by becoming a GitHub sponsor.