iGoogle continues to mystify me. After last week's rating spree - 50 ratings in the "Recommended Pages" box of the "Recommendations" tab of iGoogle - I login today and find 50 more sad recommendations.
Sad, is a conservative descriptor. After everything that I have told iGoogle about me, they can't even come close to matching me up with web content! As evidence of my plight, I rated all 50 of the new "Recommended Pages", only 6 got a thumbs up and I was generous.
On a positive note, I finally have a "Recommended Gadget". On the down side, it is "Google News". I guess it's ok, if a bit short sighted, for Google to recommend Google. I tried to rate it but the box didn't let me register a rating. Sad.
To round out my experience, I have yet to receive any recommendations in the boxes labeled "Recommended Videos", ""Recommended News", ""Recommended Searches", or ""Recommended Groups". Somebody is asleep at the wheel.
27 March 2008
What's Missing From Pandora - Mood
This week I thought I would offer up an unconventional resource to the class - a conversation with an expert.
Last week in class we had a very interesting discussion about the music recommender, Pandora. I was motivated to contact one of my old friends who is an expert in music, radio, and computing.
Me:
Friend, Initial Response:
"Well, I played with Pandora some.
As a former DJ and musician, I think I have a pretty good idea of how this should work.
It seems to match eras more than sounds. It put Tired of Waiting by the Kinks with The Who. Its a VERY different sound and style. I don't get that. Also put 19th nervous breakdown with the Who. No again. It also put Tom Petty in here. Close but not really.
Also put Bos Skaggs with Steely Dan. NO. Steely Dan is jazz. Bos Skaggs has horns but he is not jazz. Reggae?
It did better on Miles Davis. Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers, etc.
I'll play with it some more. This is a massive undertaking, creating formats on the fly. Certainly interesting."
Friend, Insights Begin:
"I think that I have some insight into what I think is missing from Pandora. They are arranging these songs by objective measurements (male vocal/reggae beat, etc.) but do not have anything subjective in them.
It would be possible for them to group a song with revolutionary content (Street Fighting Man, Volunteers, etc.) with a pacifists song (Bargain, Revolution (Beatles)) based on these measurements.
I think of music in more subjective terms: what feelings, thoughts, and other experiential dimensions does the song evoke? What state changes occur within the listener? What is the objective of listening to this song (calming, introspection, resolution, seduction, whatever.) and the type of artistic treatment. What is the INTENSITY? Joni Mitchell is emotionally INTENSE but she is folk/jazz/rock. This measurement is very important in this category and is probably important in others.
These other attributes may get you in the neighborhood but they don't really achieve the objective for me at least, of meaningful picks. I spent many years selecting music. In broadcasting, you try to achieve a flow or transitions up and back down. Too much of one type fatigues listeners so the music moves up and down in waves.
I designed a computer program to chose music based on some of these criteria once. It was based on what I thought mattered overlaid onto what was being done in radio at top stations at the time. Radio since then has gone backwards instead of advancing, with the exception of what is going on in satellite radio......"
Me:
"Most interesting. One member of our class has used Pandora as part of her class work but, is not very impressed. She said things that showed that she was more concerned about the emotional side of music. She often used the word 'mood' in her descriptions."
Friend, The Magic Word - Mood:
"MOOD is very important in radio.
I was lucky to have gotten to work with one of the best program directors in the history of radio. The whole thing is about mood and subconscious/unconscious messages.
We were sensitive to things you wouldn't believe and have exact phrases that we followed. Some songs are allowed only in the evenings, some are banned from the mornings. It is all about matching and leading moods."
Last week in class we had a very interesting discussion about the music recommender, Pandora. I was motivated to contact one of my old friends who is an expert in music, radio, and computing.
Me:
"Some members of my class have had some happiness using a music recommender that you might have some fun with; it's called Pandora. It started out life as a project to develop a DNA for music. It is pretty well described at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(music_service) but the stuff I thought you might find interesting is the list of attributes that Pandora employees assign to each piece of music. The list is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Music_Genome_Project_attributes."
Friend, Initial Response:
"Well, I played with Pandora some.
As a former DJ and musician, I think I have a pretty good idea of how this should work.
It seems to match eras more than sounds. It put Tired of Waiting by the Kinks with The Who. Its a VERY different sound and style. I don't get that. Also put 19th nervous breakdown with the Who. No again. It also put Tom Petty in here. Close but not really.
Also put Bos Skaggs with Steely Dan. NO. Steely Dan is jazz. Bos Skaggs has horns but he is not jazz. Reggae?
It did better on Miles Davis. Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers, etc.
I'll play with it some more. This is a massive undertaking, creating formats on the fly. Certainly interesting."
Friend, Insights Begin:
"I think that I have some insight into what I think is missing from Pandora. They are arranging these songs by objective measurements (male vocal/reggae beat, etc.) but do not have anything subjective in them.
It would be possible for them to group a song with revolutionary content (Street Fighting Man, Volunteers, etc.) with a pacifists song (Bargain, Revolution (Beatles)) based on these measurements.
I think of music in more subjective terms: what feelings, thoughts, and other experiential dimensions does the song evoke? What state changes occur within the listener? What is the objective of listening to this song (calming, introspection, resolution, seduction, whatever.) and the type of artistic treatment. What is the INTENSITY? Joni Mitchell is emotionally INTENSE but she is folk/jazz/rock. This measurement is very important in this category and is probably important in others.
These other attributes may get you in the neighborhood but they don't really achieve the objective for me at least, of meaningful picks. I spent many years selecting music. In broadcasting, you try to achieve a flow or transitions up and back down. Too much of one type fatigues listeners so the music moves up and down in waves.
I designed a computer program to chose music based on some of these criteria once. It was based on what I thought mattered overlaid onto what was being done in radio at top stations at the time. Radio since then has gone backwards instead of advancing, with the exception of what is going on in satellite radio......"
Me:
"Most interesting. One member of our class has used Pandora as part of her class work but, is not very impressed. She said things that showed that she was more concerned about the emotional side of music. She often used the word 'mood' in her descriptions."
Friend, The Magic Word - Mood:
"MOOD is very important in radio.
I was lucky to have gotten to work with one of the best program directors in the history of radio. The whole thing is about mood and subconscious/unconscious messages.
We were sensitive to things you wouldn't believe and have exact phrases that we followed. Some songs are allowed only in the evenings, some are banned from the mornings. It is all about matching and leading moods."
20 March 2008
On the Web, Signs of a Click Recession
Google has been in the new a lot recently, first of all:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120406885089594779.html
The Wall Street Journal reports that "Internet advertising may be showing itself more vulnerable to a consumer slowdown than many in the industry had hoped". This is based on a new report from comScore, a research company - their report was not available, at least without a fee.
ComScore reports a "7% decline in the number of times U.S. consumers clicked on ads appearing alongside Google's search results in January compared with December; clicks were 0.3% lower compared with January 2007. That follows a 7% decline from November to December." Others, including Google, see these numbers as being very way to negative. Regardless, the Google stock price was reported in the same article as "trading 38% lower than its 52-week intraday high".
Other recent articles:
Google Closes DoubleClick Deal After EU Approves
online.wsj.com/article/SB120524277833327159.html
Google to Unveil A New Ad Service For Web Publishers
online.wsj.com/article/SB120537498814032575.html
Pleasing Google's Tech-Savvy Staff
online.wsj.com/article/SB120578961450043169.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120406885089594779.html
The Wall Street Journal reports that "Internet advertising may be showing itself more vulnerable to a consumer slowdown than many in the industry had hoped". This is based on a new report from comScore, a research company - their report was not available, at least without a fee.
ComScore reports a "7% decline in the number of times U.S. consumers clicked on ads appearing alongside Google's search results in January compared with December; clicks were 0.3% lower compared with January 2007. That follows a 7% decline from November to December." Others, including Google, see these numbers as being very way to negative. Regardless, the Google stock price was reported in the same article as "trading 38% lower than its 52-week intraday high".
Other recent articles:
Google Closes DoubleClick Deal After EU Approves
online.wsj.com/article/SB120524277833327159.html
Google to Unveil A New Ad Service For Web Publishers
online.wsj.com/article/SB120537498814032575.html
Pleasing Google's Tech-Savvy Staff
online.wsj.com/article/SB120578961450043169.html
Weekly Recommender Log
This week I continue my exploration of the iGoogle Recommendations Tab. And still it puzzles me.
I am told that the 6 categories of recommendations on this page - all in their own little content boxes - are updated every day, that's right, every day. This sounds strange to me. Google has built a huge company by tossing out recommendations right and left. What could they possibly be doing that takes a day? I am not all that impatient, it's just that this seems so much different than their normal business practice.
And then there is the almost total lack of recommendations. That's a little strong but I only have recommendations in one of the six boxes. And, one of the boxes continually shows an error message.
So, I am left with one of six to work with. It is the Recommended Pages box. In it I find a link and heading for 50 recommended pages, each with a opportunity to vote the link up or down. As a whole, it is a pretty lame list. I don't see how more than a handful could have been based on my search history or my iGoogle profile.
But, in the interest of forwarding the technology, I dutifully click though all 50 recommendations and give them a thumbs up or down (mostly down unless it matches some part of my online persona).
I can't wait to see what the next round brings my way. Let's hope that it won't recommend anymore weather sites for Dayton Ohio.
I am told that the 6 categories of recommendations on this page - all in their own little content boxes - are updated every day, that's right, every day. This sounds strange to me. Google has built a huge company by tossing out recommendations right and left. What could they possibly be doing that takes a day? I am not all that impatient, it's just that this seems so much different than their normal business practice.
And then there is the almost total lack of recommendations. That's a little strong but I only have recommendations in one of the six boxes. And, one of the boxes continually shows an error message.
So, I am left with one of six to work with. It is the Recommended Pages box. In it I find a link and heading for 50 recommended pages, each with a opportunity to vote the link up or down. As a whole, it is a pretty lame list. I don't see how more than a handful could have been based on my search history or my iGoogle profile.
But, in the interest of forwarding the technology, I dutifully click though all 50 recommendations and give them a thumbs up or down (mostly down unless it matches some part of my online persona).
I can't wait to see what the next round brings my way. Let's hope that it won't recommend anymore weather sites for Dayton Ohio.
21 February 2008
Weekly Recomender Log
I start the this week exploring the world through the eyes of Google.
Last week I added a new Interesting Items For You gadget to my Humor tab of iGoogle. When I logged in this week, I still didn't have anything recommended but it suggested that I click to setup a new tab just for recommendations - just for me. I felt honored, so I clicked.
I now am the proud owner of a new iGoogle tab called Recommendations. It plans on finding items of interest for me in the following areas:
I start off the session with only 37 searches and the goal of seeing when the recommender will kick in. I start searching for skin care information. I click a few adds. I refine my search using Google's recommended searches. I Click an ad that takes me to Science Daily's skin care news, which happens to feature several Google ads prominently displayed in the middle of news stories. I click on one of these ads a learn about the science of skin care.
When I make it back to Google and, once again, search for skin care, I find that the top site on the non-advertisement list is my old friend Science Daily - kind of curious behavior.
I went on to search for an elusive vacuum sweeper filter - not available in stores.
I ended the day with 50 searches but still no new recommendations on my Recommendations tab. Then I noticed that the text in the boxes said: "You have no recommended searches for today."
It looks like gratification must be deferred. They update these recommendations daily.
Last week I added a new Interesting Items For You gadget to my Humor tab of iGoogle. When I logged in this week, I still didn't have anything recommended but it suggested that I click to setup a new tab just for recommendations - just for me. I felt honored, so I clicked.
I now am the proud owner of a new iGoogle tab called Recommendations. It plans on finding items of interest for me in the following areas:
- Videos
- Pages
- News
- Groups
- Gadgets
- Searches
I start off the session with only 37 searches and the goal of seeing when the recommender will kick in. I start searching for skin care information. I click a few adds. I refine my search using Google's recommended searches. I Click an ad that takes me to Science Daily's skin care news, which happens to feature several Google ads prominently displayed in the middle of news stories. I click on one of these ads a learn about the science of skin care.
When I make it back to Google and, once again, search for skin care, I find that the top site on the non-advertisement list is my old friend Science Daily - kind of curious behavior.
I went on to search for an elusive vacuum sweeper filter - not available in stores.
I ended the day with 50 searches but still no new recommendations on my Recommendations tab. Then I noticed that the text in the boxes said: "You have no recommended searches for today."
It looks like gratification must be deferred. They update these recommendations daily.
Personalized Conversational Case-Based Recommendation
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~cindi/papers/ewcbr.pdf
This is a foundation document that the authors (Goker & Thompson) published back in 2000 and has been referenced by them, and others, multiple times over the years.
The team built a recommender system that featured a conversational approach to a personalized recommendation - in this early case, a restaurant choice. The system was know as the Adaptive Place Advisor.
This research was funded by an automotive company, so we shouldn't be surprised that the target user is busy driving a car. The interactive user interface uses voice prompts and voice responses. The system gets to know the user over time and has the goal of not only providing agreeable restaurant choices but an improved user experience over time.
An examples of how the system adapts to the user: The system will delay the repeated recommendation of the same restaurant, even if the user likes the recommendation - the thought being that even if you like cheap Mexican food, you probably don't want to hear about Poncho's every day.
It's a good reference that addresses many of the issues of building this kind of recommender.
This is a foundation document that the authors (Goker & Thompson) published back in 2000 and has been referenced by them, and others, multiple times over the years.
The team built a recommender system that featured a conversational approach to a personalized recommendation - in this early case, a restaurant choice. The system was know as the Adaptive Place Advisor.
This research was funded by an automotive company, so we shouldn't be surprised that the target user is busy driving a car. The interactive user interface uses voice prompts and voice responses. The system gets to know the user over time and has the goal of not only providing agreeable restaurant choices but an improved user experience over time.
An examples of how the system adapts to the user: The system will delay the repeated recommendation of the same restaurant, even if the user likes the recommendation - the thought being that even if you like cheap Mexican food, you probably don't want to hear about Poncho's every day.
It's a good reference that addresses many of the issues of building this kind of recommender.
14 February 2008
I Cann't Recomment This Service - SeenThis?
http://seenthis.loomia.com/
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10066213622
Here we have a new facebook application that allows you to "take your social network with you".
Loomia has just released a new application - SeenThis? - that allows users on media sites (Wall Street Journal, NBC), with just a click, send their facebook network their latest recommendation. This recommendation gets combined with the other recommendations of your friends / groups / networks and presented to them while on facebook.
Loomia gets all excited about the flip side of the application. While on a partner site, say, the Wall Street Journal, you get to see what your facebook contacts think about the current articles.
It seems that you are never alone with SeenThis? and facebook.
I don't much like this whole idea. I am not interested in sharing this kind of information. I am also not interested in seeing what all of my buddies are reading. And, just when I thought I was all alone with this kind of antisocial networking bias, I looked at the second link that shows that not very many people are using this service. Somehow this makes me feel better about life on our planet.
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10066213622
Here we have a new facebook application that allows you to "take your social network with you".
Loomia has just released a new application - SeenThis? - that allows users on media sites (Wall Street Journal, NBC), with just a click, send their facebook network their latest recommendation. This recommendation gets combined with the other recommendations of your friends / groups / networks and presented to them while on facebook.
Loomia gets all excited about the flip side of the application. While on a partner site, say, the Wall Street Journal, you get to see what your facebook contacts think about the current articles.
It seems that you are never alone with SeenThis? and facebook.
I don't much like this whole idea. I am not interested in sharing this kind of information. I am also not interested in seeing what all of my buddies are reading. And, just when I thought I was all alone with this kind of antisocial networking bias, I looked at the second link that shows that not very many people are using this service. Somehow this makes me feel better about life on our planet.
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