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New perspectives after 7 years of research in recommender systems. Martín López Nores Department of Telematics Engineering University of Vigo ( Spain ). My educational background. I got the Telecommunications Engineering degree in the University of Vigo in July 2003.
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New perspectivesafter 7 yearsof researchin recommendersystems Martín López Nores Department of TelematicsEngineering University of Vigo (Spain)
Myeducationalbackground • I gottheTelecommunicationsEngineeringdegreein theUniversity of Vigo in July 2003. • 1st NationalAwardforOutstandingGraduatesof theYear. • I gotthePh.D. in ComputerScience in November 2006. • No awardsthis time • I achievedtheMaster’sDegreein TelematicsEngineering in 2007.
Myteachingexperience • I started as anassistantprofessorin February 2004. • I becameanassociateprofessor6 yearslater. • … butthereisyetone more steptoconsolidatemy position. • In 7 years of teaching, I havetouchedmanydifferenttopics: • Computerarchitectures. • Programming. • Operatingsystems. • Computernetworks. • Switchingsystems. • Queueingtheory. • Internet technologies and services.
Myresearchactivities • MyPh.D. thesiswasaboutformal methodsappliedtothespecification and operation of telematicsystems. • Implementationof interactionpatternsformultiusersystems. • Management of communications in mobile ad-hoc networks. • Bythe time I gotthedegree, I hadpublished: • 16 papersin internationalconferences. • 5 articles in SCI-indexedjournals. • Then I moved ontoresearchonrecommendersystems and personalizationtechnologies. • I startedproducingtwice as manypublicationsper year. • Oftenwithgreaterimpact, too.
Whytheincrease? • Formal methodswereno longer a hottopic. • Afterdecades of research, itwascomparativelyhardtoreally come up withsomething new. • Onthecontrary, recommendersystemsrepresenteda brandnew paradigm, withplenty of possibilities. • Therewas real demandforresearch in thisarea, tofighttheproblem of informationoverload. • Indeed, itwasnecessaryto come up with new applications in allareas of computerscience. • Technologywasmuch more advancedthatour use of it. Itisessentialtochoose a propitiousthemefor a Ph.D.!!!!!
A quickoverview (I) • Mygroup’sresearch in recommendersystemsstartedoutwiththeAVATARsystem (2004), aimed at identifyingthemostinteresting TV programsforeachviewer. • Content-based and collaborativefilteringstrategiesgroundedonsemanticreasoning. • Classicalsimilaritymetrics. • Ontology-basedmodelling of items and users. • TV-Anytimemetadata. • Implicit and explicitforms of feedback.
A quickoverview (II) • In 2007, westartedworkingonMiSPOT, aimed at selectingthemostsuitableitemstoadvertiseduring TV programs. • New modules toreasonaboutthesuitability of theitems in thedifferentscenes. • TV-Anytime + MPEG-7 + eCl@ssmetadata. • Possibilitiesto link theadstointeractiveapplications. • Tobrowsedetails of therecommendedproducts, purchasethem online, etc. • Solutionsfor receiver-sidepersonalization. • Pruning of the ontologies byrelevancecriteria, stereotypes, etc.
A quickoverview (and III) • Lately, wehavebeenusingMiSPOT as theframeworkto try new ideas: • Content-basedfilteringwithspreadingactivation. • Modelingtheinfluence of timeontherecommendations. • Temporal functionslinkedtonodes of the ontologies. • Reckoningthattheinfluence of time may be differentfordifferenttypes of users. • Stereotype-drivencorrections of the temporal functions. • Integratingelectronichealth records as anotherdimension of theuserprofiles. • Combinations of theabove.
What’sahead? • We are runningout of ideas onhowtoimproveMiSPOTevenfurther. • Thesituationismuchliketheone I sufferedwith formal methods 5 or 6 years ago. • Indeed, itseemsthatrecommendersystems are alsoceasingto be a hottopicbythemselves. Itis time tomoveonto a fresherarea!
Curiously, theseadvancescreate a propitiousscenariotorevisitlong-existingareas of research: • Afterall, Web 2.0 (the social web) isconceptuallybeforeWeb 3.0 (thesemantic web), isn’tit? • Likewise, geolocationcapabilitiesweresupposedto be thecornerstone of context-awareness and pervasivecomputing. The new buzzwords • Socialnetworks are everywhere, and thereseemsto be plenty of spaceforinnovationwithin Facebook and thelike. • Also, smartphoneshavetakenmobileapplicationsto a new dimension. • Theincreasingavailability of broadbandconnectivityisleadingtoan era of cloudcomputingand lightweightclients. • New challengesforsemantics-basedpersonalization: • Gaininginsighthugeloads of unstructuredinformation. • Reasoningaboutmultipledimensions of context: location, emotions, environmentalconditions, etc. • Exploiting social relationships and word of mouth. • Personalizationbeyondcontentselection: automaticformation of groups of people, automaticcomposition of interactiveexperiences… • …
It’snotonlyabout new topics… • Formanyyears, researchactivitieswereevaluated, essentially, in terms of: • Kilograms of printedpages. • A priori numbers(impactfactors and thelike). • Nobodywill be fooledbythesecriteriaanylonger. • Instead, theeconomic crisis ismakinginstitutionsconsiderthereal interestthattheresearch has raised: • In otherresearchers:numberof referencescollectedbypublications; number of downloads of software packages… • In theindustry:technology transfer results, privately-funded R&D projects, patents, productsin themarket, spin-offscreated, …
Mysuggestions • Don’tfocustoomuchondegrees and papers. • Think of theuniversityas a propitiouscontexttogetinspirationfor new ideas… • … and tomakevaluablecontactsthat can helpyou in makingthem real! • Takeadvantage of thefactthatyou can study. • Ifyouget a grant, rememberthatsomeoneisinvesting in you. • Takesome time tothinkwhattopicsyoureallywantto explore. • Try to be ambitious and creative, not “continuative”. • Be enthusiastic.
Onecontextfor new research in Vigo • Ourgroupiscurrentlyoffering a position forPh.D. studentswithinthe CLOUDIA project. • “Social ecosystemfortheubiquitous and personalizedprovision of services in thecloud”. • Conditions: • An FPI grant of theSpanishgovernment. • 4 years, startingin late 2011. • About1,200€ (gross) per monthduringthefirsttwoyears, and over 16,500€ (gross) per yearoveryears 3 and 4. • Possibilitytoapplyfortravel and subsistencefor short stays (2-6 months per year) in otherresearch centers.
A possibilityforminorcollaborations • I am leading a projecttodevelopa kind of "social shop" in Facebook. • Sellingbatches of productsallowstoofferlowerprices per unit. • Wewillacttogatherthenecessarynumber of purchasers in time, havinginterestedpeopletopropagatetheoffers. • Wehaverequestedpatentsfortheservice, and theaimistolaunchitcommerciallybytheend of 2011. • A prototypeshould be readybytheend of March. • However, westillneedreasoningmechanismstoidentifythe set of userswhowillgettheoffersdirectlyfromus. • Wemust define measures of (i) eachuser'spotentialinterest in theproducts and (ii) his/herpotentialinfluenceonotherpeople.
SMAP 2011 • The6th International WorkshoponSemantic Multimedia Adaptation and Personalizationwill be held in Vigo. • December 1st and 2nd, 2011. • Focusedtopics, and a clearcommitmenttoquality. • Byattending, youwillhavetheopportunitytolearnabouttheworks and ideas of a very active community. • We are waitingforyoursubmissions!
Thankyou! mlnores@det.uvigo.es