IntersectionExpIorer: The flexibility of multiple perspectives

Recommender systems are currently an ubiquitous presence on the web, helping us find relevant items in the ever-growing plethora of information available. However, there is not a one-size fits-all for recommender systems, and flexibility and control are crucial for enabling the possibility of adapting the recommender system to different user preferences. In this paper, we present the results of a study designed to assess user interaction with IntersectionExplorer (IEx), a multi-perspective tool for exploring conference paper recommendations. The study was conducted at the Digital Humanities 2016 Conference, an event with a rather large, heterogeneous, and not technology-oriented audience. The results obtained indicate that the IEx multi-perspective approach lends enough flexibility to accommodate different user preferences. When contrasting these results with a previous study conducted at a conference with a highly technological audience, it becomes apparent that the flexibility of IEx is key to empower users with different profiles to customize their approach to finding relevant recommendations.status: publishe