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ClassificationAndRecommendation

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leonardr edited this page Apr 10, 2014 · 26 revisions

We have three complementary jobs when it comes to presenting books:

  • To classify the books into feeds, such that each book in a feed is related in some way.
  • To show each patron the feeds most likely to interest them.
  • Within each feed, to put more the best and most interesting books at the front of the feed.

The first is a job for a classification scheme. The second and third are jobs for a recommendation engine.

A good classification scheme reduces the need for a good recommendation engine, and vice versa. The more precisely you know what kind of book someone likes, the less picky you need to be about the relative ranking of books in that category. But if you could always present someone with the perfect book they want right now, then classification would be irrelevant.

Classification schemes

A lot of schemes have been devised to classify books.

  • BISAC Sample: "POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development"

  • BIC Sample: "FKC" (Classic horror and ghost stories), child of "FK" (Horror and ghost stories), child of "F" (Fiction).

  • Dewey Decimal classification Sample: "188" (Stoic philosophy), child of "18" (Ancient, medieval & eastern philosophy), child of "1" (Philosophy & psychology)

  • Library of Congress classification Sample: "QE521-545" (Volcanoes and earthquakes), child of "QE" (Geology), child of "Q" (Science)

  • Library of Congress subject headings Sample: "Fundraising cookbooks"

  • Bookstores like Amazon have their own proprietary classifications, e.g. "Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Urban & Land Use Planning". These also show up as GoodReads "genres".

  • Amazon books also come with classifications from the publishers, although these aren't displayed very prominently. Major publishers tend to use LOC subject headings or BISAC classifications. Self-published books effectively use tags.

  • A book's author and the series it belongs to groups it with other books in a very basic way.

  • Folksonomic classifications (emergent classification derived from use) which divide up collection of books into books that have a certain feature and books that don't. These show up as GoodReads "shelves".

  • Lists of books similarly divide the space of books into books on the list and books not on the list.

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