amazon’s recommender system is sure winning me over
Thursday, March 23rd, 2006i used to feel some of that “oh, the computer can’t really Know what i like… they’re just trying to idolize technology and woo me with the gee whiz factor”
but as the recommendations get better and better, and i think about it more and more, i realize that well-instituted recommender systems are a great example of Not idolizing technology. it’s just smart use of data that is generated by the behaviors of actual people – the people do the determinations of relevance and the computer computes.
that’s the kind of division of labor that excites me.
and i find books i otherwise wouldn’t know about!
my wish list overfloweth!
the “we’ll start thinking that the whole universe is what amazon thinks and have a harder time discovering the margins” argument doesn’t hold a lot of water with me, i have come to realize, because i alReady have a hard time discovering the margins, and i think that there are ways to build new discoveries in. then it’s a “how do we make sure people are listened to” debate, though, not a “do recommender systems work” debate, and that’s good to keep straight, because the first one is a major priority.