A sequence-based and context modelling framework for recommendation. (1st August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kumar, Gunjan; Jerbi, Houssem; O'Mahony, Michael P.
• Is Part Of: Expert systems with applications. Volume 175(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08-01
• Subjects: Recommender systems -- Activity recommendation -- Sequence aware recommendation; Expert systems (Computer science) -- Periodicals; Systèmes experts (Informatique) -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 006.33
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2021.114665
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0957-4174

Abstract

Highlights: A semantic model of user activities as a timeline of activity objects. A generic activity recommendation framework for multiple recommendation scenarios. Recommending the next activity, the next sequence, & context for the next activity. Recommendation-based and context-aware post-filtering. Experiments on the lifelogging, urban computing and tourism (LBSN) domains. Abstract: Since the last decade, data collection is becoming more pervasive, passive and easier to perform. This is resulting in the rise of data wherein a user performs some activities in a sequence, such as locations visited, physical activities performed, and modes of transport taken. In such cases, activities are often performed in a particular order, and each activity in turn may influence the subsequent activities to be performed. Moreover, such activities may be associated with multiple features or contexts, such as location, time, weather, etc. The order encoded in such data, along with the context, capture important information when it comes to modelling the preferences and personal habits of users. Traditional recommender systems, however, typically do not consider the order in which users perform activities and there is little work which considers both sequence and context simultaneously. In this work, a generic recommendation framework is proposed which leverages both sequences and context in user activity data for activity recommendation. To model user activities, a semantic view of the user's past activities as a timeline of activity objects is presented. An essential step in the recommendation process is finding patterns in past activities performed which are closely aligned to the recent activities undertaken by the user. To calculate the distance between timelines, a novel two-level distance metric is presented which calculates distance with respect to the order of the activities as well as the context features associated with each activity occurrence. The efficacy of the proposed activity recommendation framework in various recommendation scenarios, is demonstrated using real-world datasets from multiple domains.