SYDNEY - February 2000 - Sydney-based BigPulse launches BigPulse.com, a radical new concept in public opinion polling.
BigPulse automatically detects, ranks and publishes leading public issues in all regions continuously. Yet no questions
are asked, no surveys are produced and no pollster is involved.
Fifteen months in development, BigPulse uses an open free floating technique called "Organic" Polling. The term Organic
signifies a natural, unconstrained polling process that produces clean, "unpolluted" expressions of public opinion.
"Central to the technique is the elimination of the pollster - continuous polling without a pollster. This means it's
free from personal, corporate or institutional bias and interference," said BigPulse founder Ralph McKay.
It's an automated process that merges the many opinions from the public at large to form a concise expression of leading
public issues, ranked in order of priority. A real time "issue meter" sensitive to minute by minute changes in public
opinion.
Everyone online has equal opportunity to express a view and instantaneous access to results.
"It's fascinating to watch. It's like seeing the thoughts of a collective intelligence," said McKay.
"BigPulse has got me hooked. I'm intrigued by it. Every day I have a vote and check out what's been going on. I've even
put in a few placards . . . I think it's great and it will only get better," said Albury businessman Domenic Alessi.
How BigPulse Works
BigPulse works by continuously harvesting from all regions opinions expressed in the form of electronic placards. These
placards are short statements of opinion such as "Freedom for Tibet", "Look after environment" or "Count All votes in
Florida". Each placard is created by an online user.
Others then see these placards, vote their support for them, which boosts their ranking relative to other placards.
BigPulse uses a competitive free market principle analogous to the stock market. A company's value is known when it's
floated and allowed to compete freely for capital. Similarly, the "value" or ranking of a placard, representing a public
issue, becomes known when it's allowed to float freely and compete for votes. It reflects reality; issues compete for
attention.
An issue engine continuously processes, ranks and publishes the popular placards in a leaders ladder in the website -
the issue meter. It shows the dynamics of public opinion changing through time in reaction to social, political and
natural events.
It's a totally fluid measurement of the dynamics of public opinion.
Automation also means that all regions in the world are "scanned" simultaneously - the website includes an "issue
scanner" used by visitors to pinpoint the leading issues in any place or constituency.
Unlike yes/no and multiple choice polls people here are invited to vote for their preferred placards daily. This enables
people to express their changing sentiments through time anonymously to the world.
"We wanted to make it very easy for people to use, so we incorporated the issue meter, issue scanner and voting booth
into the home page - everything is there on one screen," said McKay.
Private Polling and Web Issue Feeds
The technology is also being licensed to commercial groups and organizations such as schools and local government
authorities wishing to run their own organic polls for market research activities.
BigPulse is providing live hot issue feeds to webmasters.
About
BigPulse is a subsidiary and creation of Sydney-based GarageMoguls Pty Limited - a cradle for Internet startups.
Website: http://www.bigpulse.com
Screen shots: http://www.bigpulse.com/screenshots.html
Email: launch@bigpulse.com