The Cold Start Problem - a podcast by Ben Jaffe and Katie Malone

You might sometimes find that it's hard to get started doing something, but once you're going, it gets easier. Turns out machine learning algorithms, and especially recommendation engines, feel the same way. The more they "know" about a user, like what movies they watch and how they rate them, the better they do at suggesting new movies, which is great until you realize that you have to start somewhere. The "cold start" problem will be our focus in this episode, both the heuristic solutions that help deal with it and a bit of realism about the importance of skepticism when someone claims a great solution to cold starts.

Relevant links:http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=cis_papers

Further episodes of Linear Digressions

Further podcasts by Ben Jaffe and Katie Malone

Website of Ben Jaffe and Katie Malone