Why did they have to go and make things complicated? Despite conclusions drawn by Canadian journalists, researchers at MIT say their new online research project is not, in fact, declaring that Avril Lavigne is the most famous Canadian.
MIT recently unveiled a new interactive website called Pantheon, which collects and analyzes data, such as the number of Wikipedia pages, on the popularity of historical figures, from Aristotle to Celine Dion.
The singer’s place atop the round-up of Canadians on the list sparked outrage, which is perhaps not surprising since she hasn’t had a hit since last decade, with 2007’s Girlfriend.
“Due to implications that have been drawn by some Pantheon visitors, we would like to remind our visitors that, 1. Small differences in ranking (i.e. who is first, second or tenth) are not statistically meaningful and should not be used to draw conclusions about the popularity of similarly ranked individuals. (i.e. we are NOT claiming that Avril Lavigne is the most famous Canadian).”
I just feel bad for Avril, but I feel even worse for the Backstreet Boys. They could've had "MOST FAMOUS CANADIAN" on all of their tour posters, but now it'll seem cheap
(i.e. we are NOT claiming that Avril Lavigne is the most famous Canadian, even though the CBC is telling their readers that this is our claim. Technically, her score is statistically indistinguishable from that of Leonard Cohen, and a warning about abusing the ranks in this way was posted on this site two days before the CBC ran their story.)
Misleading thread title. The ranking still stays the same but they clarify that the difference between them is minimal and is not indicative of popularity. They never claimed she was the most famous though, the CBC did.
