GDELT

The GDELT Project is a remarkable initiative that monitors our world by analyzing global news from various sources. Here are the key aspects of the GDELT dataset:

1. Scope and Purpose:
   - The GDELT Project aims to create a comprehensive, real-time database of global human society.
   - It monitors news from broadcasts, print media, and web sources in nearly every country and over 100 languages.
   - By analyzing this vast dataset, it identifies people, locations, organizations, themes, emotions, and events that shape our global society every second of every day.

2. Data Collection:
   - GDELT continuously captures and analyzes news articles, broadcasts, and online sources.
   - Its historical archives date back to January 1, 1979, and it updates every 15 minutes.
   - The project goes beyond Western media, providing a more global perspective on world events and sentiments.

3. Features:
   - GDELT uses sophisticated natural language and data mining algorithms, including powerful deep learning techniques.
   - It extracts over 300 categories of events, millions of themes, thousands of emotions, and the networks connecting them.
   - The dataset models human interactions at a large scale, making it valuable for research and analysis.

4. Vision:
   - The GDELT Project envisions using this data to:

   • Understand the world through others' eyes.
   • Break down language and access barriers.
   • Facilitate conversations between societies.
   • Empower local populations with information for safer lives.
   • Map happiness, conflict, and potentially forecast global tensions.

5. Global Reach:
   - GDELT monitors media in over 100 languages across every country, providing a truly global perspective.
   - It allows us to explore how social media is used worldwide and how people express themselves online.

6. Open Data:
   - The entire GDELT database is free and open.
   - Researchers can download raw data, visualize it, or analyze it at scale using tools like Google BigQuery¹²³⁴⁵.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/12/2024
(1) The GDELT Project. https://www.gdeltproject.org/.
(2) The GDELT Database | Aalto Datahub. https://datahub.aalto.fi/en/data-sources/the-gdelt-database.
(3) An Introduction to GDELT Data | MongoDB. https://www.mongodb.com/developer/products/mongodb/introduction-to-gdelt-data/.
(4) GDELT 2.0: Our Global World in Realtime – The GDELT Project. https://blog.gdeltproject.org/gdelt-2-0-our-global-world-in-realtime/.
(5) Data: Querying, Analyzing and Downloading: The GDELT Project. https://www.gdeltproject.org/data.html.