[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Activity metric for relevance

[Mike Rylander]

On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 9:01 AM, Thomas Berezansky <tsbere at mvlc.org> wrote:

> The current plan would not take into account how recent the circs (or
> holds) were, just that they were within a configurable time period of the
> time the cronjob that counts them last ran (default will likely be to
> include those from within the last 6 to 12 months). If you have an
> algorithm you think would work well and are willing to share we would
> gladly include that as an option when doing the work, though.
>
>
I do, and I am.  As time permits over the next few weeks I'll get back to
this thread.


> We would not, however, be able to make it a per-bump option with the way
> we currently plan on storing the circ and hold counts, so instead it would
> function as an overall modifier to the circ/hold count numbers. Though even
> as I type this email I have thoughts on how we could change that if the
> feeling is that it should be at least partially bump-to-bump configurable.
>
>
I think it's really only useful for some bump types in any case.  The ratio
bumps are really point-in-time values -- they represent "right this very
moment" (or "late last night," I guess). Threshold bumps don't attempt to
take scale into account, just that some line was crossed.  For circs this
year or holds this month, or similar, age scaling (probably a better term
than just "aging") of each event's relevance should be useful.

--miker


> Thomas Berezansky
> Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
>
>
> Quoting Mike Rylander <mrylander at gmail.com>:
>
>  Kathy,
>>
>> Have you considered allowing an aging parameter for some bumps, so that
>> newer data toward the near end of the horizon is considered more
>> important?
>> For instance, spikes in circulation might have a larger short term effect
>> on relevance, but over time, while still being factored into relevance,
>> would be less important though still considered in the bump logic.  I ask
>> because I have a simple algorithm I'm using in another project, to be
>> debuted at the conference, that may be portable to this work.
>>
>> --miker
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 3:53 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Hi all,
>>>
>>> MassLNC is working with our partners at MVLC to develop an activity
>>> metric
>>> (aka popularity metric) that will allow sites to rank more popular items
>>> a
>>> little higher in search results than items that don't see as much
>>> activity.
>>> I've raised this idea on the list before. Although Evergreen allows sites
>>> to adjust relevancy based on the appearance of keywords in certain
>>> fields,
>>> which is highly useful, our hope is that this additional functionality
>>> will
>>> lead to further improvement when ranking results by relevance.
>>>
>>> As an example, if a user were conducting a keyword search on "abraham
>>> lincoln,"  there are many titles in most US libraries where the words
>>> "abraham lincoln" show up in the title. There would be no way to tease
>>> out
>>> the titles that are getting the most attention by readers. In fact, a
>>> title
>>> like "Team of Rivals" ranks very low in our search results even though
>>> there is a high likelihood it is the title the patron is seeking.  By
>>> applying a metric based on activity, we might be able to see those
>>> more-recently popular titles floating higher in the search results list.
>>>
>>> I would like to share MVLC's proposal outlining the details for
>>> implementing this project. The proposal is available at
>>> http://masslnc.cwmars.org/****node/2757<http://masslnc.cwmars.org/**node/2757>
>>> <http://masslnc.**cwmars.org/node/2757<http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2757>
>>> >.
>>>
>>> It provides a lot of flexibility in allowing sites to define what "high
>>> activity" means to them. Circulation activity, holds activity, total
>>> copies, and publication age/bib record age can all be used as an activity
>>> metric.
>>>
>>> If you have any feedback or questions, feel free to let us know.
>>>
>>> Kathy
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kathy Lussier
>>> Project Coordinator
>>> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
>>> (508) 343-0128
>>> klussier at masslnc.org
>>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/****kmlussier<http://www.twitter.com/**kmlussier>
>>> <http://www.twitter.**com/kmlussier <http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Mike Rylander
>>  | Director of Research and Development
>>  | Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
>>  | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>>  | email:  miker at esilibrary.com
>>  | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com
>>
>>
>
>


-- 
Mike Rylander
 | Director of Research and Development
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  miker at esilibrary.com
 | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/attachments/20130315/6a07b86b/attachment-0001.htm>