Pulse: The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities

Welcome to the website for, Pulse. Visit this page on a regular basis to receive the latest downloads and power tools Doug Hubbard has to offer. These downloads include spreadsheet examples of the calculations, “Power Tools,” and additional calibration exercises.

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Downloads for Examples and Exercises from the Book Below

Examples of Correlations in Data and the R squared calculation

As referred to in Pulse, pages 49 and 70. This spreadsheet shows some hypothetical examples of how time-series data and the output of predictive models could be correlated. The data could mean virtually anything (economic trends vs. Google searches, public opinion vs. Tweets, and so on) but the same principles apply. For a real-world example, use the next spreadsheet (Now-casting Unemployment).

Now-casting Unemployment

As referred to in Pulse, page 76 and 80. Just follow the names of the tabs that correspond with the steps explained in the book. The tab named “Four Variable Model” is the calculation referenced on page 80 of the book and shown in exhibit 5.7. This produces and even more accurate model. The last tab “Other Google Searches” are some additional prepared data from Google Trends that the reader may want to experiment with.

Applied Information Economics (AIE) White Paper

A brief overview of AIE. This paper also contrasts AIE with certain popular decision analysis methods, especially in Information Technology.

Applied Information Economics (AIE) Example #1

Veterans Affairs IT Security Analysis: This is the written deliverable for the Department of Veterans Affairs AIE performance metrics project for the Information Security Program. The pdf version is also available at www.cio.gov and other AIE studies done for the US Government may be found by searching for “Applied Information Economics” on that site.

Applied Information Economics (AIE) Example #2

The Electronic Media Management System (EMMS): This report is based on an actual AIE analysis for a mass media client of Hubbard Decision Research. It is fairly typical of current AIE reports generated. Company name, project name and some other details were changed for client privacy.

Check back for updates in technology that will impact the use of the Pulse including news on new research with discoveries of correlations between the Internet and real-world trends, new APIs, and new examples of calculations using the data from the world-wide Pulse.