Nowcasting Mobile Games Ranking Using Web Search Query Data

Abstract

In recent years, the Internet has become embedded into the purchasing decision of consumers. The purpose of this paper is to study whether the Internet behavior of users correlates with their actual behavior in computer games market. Rather than proposing the most accurate model for computer game sales, we aim to investigate to what extent web search query data can be exploited to nowcast (contraction of “now” and “forecasting” referring to techniques used to make short-term forecasts) (predict the present status of) the ranking of mobile games in the world. Google search query data is used for this purpose, since this data can provide a real-time view on the topics of interest. Various statistical techniques are used to show the effectiveness of using web search query data to nowcast mobile games ranking.

A Comparison of Active and Passive Virtual Reality Exposure Scenarios to Elicit Social Anxiety

“…The motivation behind our hypothesis that the active exposure scenarios should be superior to passive scenarios comes from the rapidly developing literature on human-computer-interaction and virtual reality. Virtual reality is a 3D computer generated environment that is explored and interacted with [21,22]. In this setting, the person feels immersed in the virtual world such that she becomes a part of this world.…”