Goverlytics Improves Objectivity of Political Analysis

Vancouver, BC, September 14, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Goverlytics, a gamifier of politics, is applying the latest in cognitive computing to political information in order to help improve objectivity in analysis.  The first two projects underway will involve the 2015 Canadian Parliamentary and the 2016 US Presidential elections.

Goverlytics has developed an analysis capability that incorporates IBM Watson technologies in order to understand and assess in real time speeches, blogs websites, and online posts emanating from political candidates.  The goal of the solution is to remove natural human biases from political reporting.

"Cognitive bias is very difficult to spot without using mathematics and machines to set standards of objectivity. By applying Watson's capacity to analyze unstructured political discourse in real time Goverlytics solution offers a more certain path to objectivity."

William Spat, PhD, CEO, IOTO International Inc.

The solution was created by British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) co-op students Trevor Broderick and Tom Tang, working under the direction of Dr. William Spat of IOTO International Inc., developers of Goverlytics.

The results from early projects, presented at www.goverlytics.com , differ from traditional political reporting and are akin to sports statistics. Rankings show with mathematical precision exactly how often, comparatively how much, and with what kind of sentiment political players discuss topics of legislative, economic, and parliamentary importance.

“Cognitive bias is different from partisanship or favoritism. Simply put, cognitive bias describes how human thought processes select and prefer some lines of thought over others,” said Dr. Spat, who holds an Edinburgh University PhD specializing in machine consciousness. “This kind of bias is very difficult to spot without using mathematics and machines to set standards of objectivity. By applying Watson’s capacity to analyze unstructured political discourse in real time Goverlytics solution offers a more certain path to objectivity.”

“Political analysis can focus on the sensational, while ignoring factors which have a much larger and longer lasting effect on citizen’s lives,” continues BCIT Computing Science Technology student Tom Tang. “This can lead to hijacked political discourse which is newsworthy, but which is confusing or insignificant when it comes to the serious business of running a state.” Goverlytics makes it easy to see which players are scoring political points by focusing on topics of importance, and to see which topics are trending in importance.

“Human analysis of political events is rife with feedback loops,” says Trevor Broderick, also a BCIT Computing Science Technology student. So in true ‘wag the dog’ fashion, an electorate can be distracted by disproportionate focus on emotive issues. Political players know this: they game the system by spending money on massaging their messages in the public eye. “We did one comparative analysis of just how much government money was spent on shaping human perceptions of what occurs, compared to how much government money was spent on making things actually occur. There was at least an order of magnitude difference favoring spending on shaping perceptions rather than actually shaping things,” elaborated Broderick. It’s tough to game a supercomputer.

Goverlytics’ political player and topic rankings will be updated throughout the 2015 Canadian Parliamentary and 2016 US Presidential Elections. For more information, please visit www.goverlytics.com

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Press contacts: William Spat, Ph.D. | IOTO International Inc. 604.987.4301 | wspat@ioto.ca

Jocelyne Leszczynski | Media Relations Coordinator| BCIT 604.432.8306| jleszczynski2@bcit.ca