Last March I pointed out a short piece by Tessa Lau about how good interaction design trumps smart algorithms. Today I have a followup. In particular, Xavier Amatriain has a good writeup of the recently concluded Netflix contest. Some of the lessons learned by going through the process are related to the importance of good evaluation metrics, the effect of (lapsed) time, matrix factorization, algorithm combination, and the value of data.
Data is always important, but what struck me in the writeup was his discovery that the biggest advances came not from accumulation of massive amount of data, log files, clicks, etc. Rather, while dozens and dozens of researchers around the world were struggling to reach that coveted 10% improvement by eking out every last drop of value from large data-only methods, Amatriain comparatively easily blew past that ceiling and hit 14%.
How? Continue reading…
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