Formula to call future

HE called ScoMo’s shock win at the last federal election, the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit – but the Gold Coast’s own Nostradamus has never taken a punt on his own predictions.

Griffith Professor Bela Stantic, a glitter strip mathematician has risen to global fame after his big data analysis of over a million social media posts which resulted in spot-on election predictions time and time again.

“I never really bet, I only bet on the Melbourne Cup and then that goes to charity,” Prof Stantic told the Bulletin.

Prof Stantic said he was more interested in using his algorithm for good, like predicting public health outcomes – despite having the upper hand on bookies.

“Richness is not calculated by an amount of money,” he said.

As Head of School and the Director of Big Data and Smart Analytics lab within the Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems, Prof Stantic’s way to measure outcomes is a new twist on traditional polling.

Instead of asking voters what they think, he analyses the way they act by looking at the language used and the posts gaining the most traction.

“I was the only one who was relying on this new data matter, other polling was based on old traditional outdated systems using land line phones or mobiles where you rely on people telling you what they truly think,” Prof Stantic said

“I think people are more honest about things when they are sharing indirectly to friends rather than answering calls, and this is how we were able to predict the outcome.

“I collect relevant posts with key terms, look at the sentiment, an algorithm – then everything else is just mathematics.

“I don’t find it challenging to predict at this stage.

“My algorithms work in a similar logic to the human brain for reasoning. That’s how I’ve created them in order to analyse and sift data that reflects evolving sentiments.”

Since the news of his number crunching has spread the professor has received calls from all over the globe from companies seeking his skills.

“We can now predict other outcomes from drawing on this data, not just federal elections,” Professor Stantic said.

“We can look at the interest in products, the health of a community and more.”

He also hopes to focus on fake posts and a way to identify when people aren’t telling the truth in their posts.

I NEVER REALLY BET, I ONLY BET ON THE MELBOURNE CUP AND THAT GOES TO CHARITY

PROF STANTIC