In episode 18 of Recsperts, we hear from Professor Sole Pera from Delft University of Technology. We discuss the use of recommender systems for non-traditional populations, with children in particular. Sole shares the specifics, surprises, and subtleties of her research on recommendations for children.

In our interview, Sole and I discuss use cases and domains which need particular attention with respect to non-traditional populations. Sole outlines some of the major challenges like lacking public datasets or multifaceted criteria for the suitability of recommendations. The highly dynamic needs and abilities of children pose proper user modeling as a crucial part in the design and development of recommender systems. We also touch on how children interact differently with recommender systems and learn that trust plays a major role here.

Towards the end of the episode, we revisit the different goals and stakeholders involved in recommendations for children, especially the role of parents. We close with an overview of the current research community.

Enjoy this enriching episode of RECSPERTS - Recommender Systems Experts.
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• (00:00) - Introduction
• (04:56) - About Sole Pera
• (06:37) - Non-traditional Populations
• (09:13) - Dedicated User Modeling
• (25:01) - Main Application Domains
• (40:16) - Lack of Data about non-traditional Populations
• (47:53) - Data for Learning User Profiles
• (57:09) - Interaction between Children and Recommendations
• (01:00:26) - Goals and Stakeholders
• (01:11:35) - Role of Parents and Trust
• (01:17:59) - Evaluation
• (01:26:59) - Research Community
• (01:32:37) - Closing Remarks

• Sole Pera on LinkedIn
• Sole's Website
• Children and Recommenders
• KidRec 2022
• People and Information Retrieval Team (PIReT)

Papers:

• Beyhan et al. (2023): Covering Covers: Characterization Of Visual Elements Regarding Sleeves
• Murgia et al. (2019): The Seven Layers of Complexity of Recommender Systems for Children in Educational Contexts
• Pera et al. (2019): With a Little Help from My Friends: User of Recommendations at School
• Charisi et al. (2022): Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child: Towards an Integrated Agenda for Research and Policy
• Gómez et al. (2021): Evaluating recommender systems with and for children: towards a multi-perspective framework
• Ng et al. (2018): Recommending social-interactive games for adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

General Links:

• Follow me on LinkedIn
• Follow me on Twitter
• Send me your comments, questions and suggestions to marcel@recsperts.com
• Recsperts Website