RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS INTERFACES: THEORY AND PRACTICE

A Special Issue of ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)

Special issue editors: John Riedl and Paul Dourish

Deadline for Submissions: 15 July 2003.

Papers are invited for a special issue of ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction on the topic of the ways in which Recommender Systems are changing Human Computer Interaction. This call is broad in scope, including HCI research on the psychological and economic theories of how recommender systems work, interfaces for recommender systems, experience with recommender systems, and the social issues their widespread use raises.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in recommender systems, under a wide variety of names including collaborative filtering, social navigation, personalization, and user modelling. These systems all share in common the creation of interfaces that adapt themselves to user behavior based on past experience and patterns of use. At their best, recommender systems can create interfaces that provide each user with the best personalized view of the information, data, and resources available through the interface. Recommender systems have been used widely in creating e-commerce sites that present each user with personalized recommendations, in information resources that adapt the content they display to each user's tastes, and in navigation systems that use experience with previous visitors to suggest paths to a new user.

There are many HCI research challenges in recommender systems, ranging from interface design to practical experience in e-commerce. Submissions for this special issue are solicited across the entire range of recommender systems, including (but not limited to):

1. Social issues in recommender systems. How does the widespread collection of interface usage data affect user privacy? How do users feel about the use of behavioral data to change the interface they see? What can be done to create recommender systems that limit the loss of privacy for users? How does reputation interact with recommender systems?
2. Psychological, social, and economic theories about recommender system interfaces. What does theory tell us about the usage patterns for recommender systems? Can we predict which interfaces will be successful and which will fail? What new theory is needed to explain the experiences with recommender systems to date?
3. Design of interfaces for recommender systems. What are best practices for recommender system design for different user tasks? Should recommender systems be visible to users, or silent servants behind the scene?
4. Experience with recommender systems. How effective are recommender systems in practice? What changes do they create in usage patterns? In which domains do they work well? What limits are there on their utility?

TOCHI's normal rigorous journal refereeing standards will apply. Though the intent is to provide broad coverage over the area of recommender systems, only papers that meet TOCHI's normal standards will be included.

The deadline for receiving submissions is July 15, 2003. All contributions will be peer reviewed to the usual standard of TOCHI. For further information or to discuss a possible contribution, please contact the special issue editors, John Riedl and Paul Dourish.

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Last Updated: 1/17/03; 3:48:12 PM