Methods and systems for modifying a user profile for a recommendation algorithm and making recommendations based on user interactions with items

A system for providing recommendations from a recommendation engine using an implicit profile of a user which implicit profile is continuously modifiable, comprising:

• the recommendation engine for providing recommended items and peers in response to a user inquiry on a specific topic;
• a profiles database associated with the recommendation engine for storing an explicit profile and the implicit profile for the user;
• at least one of a private recommendation engine database and a remote server in communication with the recommendation engine for storing and maintaining the recommended items;
• a user interface providing the user with electronic access to the recommended items via the recommendation engine in response to the user inquiry, the recommended items comprising at least one of a document, an article, a chart, a graphic, a report, and a web page, and enabling user interaction with an accessed item selected from the recommended items;
• a software application for electronically tracking the user interaction with the accessed item;
• a database for storing details of the user interaction with the accessed item;
• wherein:
• the details of the user interaction are prioritized based on at least one of recency of the user interaction, significance of the user interaction, and depth of the user interaction;
• the software application modifies the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction;
• the recommendation engine determines at least one other user to be an expert peer having expertise relating to the specific topic based on the implicit profile or the modified implicit profile of the at least one other user;
• the modified implicit profile is used by the recommendation engine to serve one or more expert peer recommendations to the user based on at least one of the implicit profile or the modified implicit profile of the user and the implicit profile or the modified implicit profile of the expert peer;
• the explicit profile comprises data provided by the user to the recommendation engine;
• the implicit profile in an unmodified state comprises information obtained from user behavior;
• the information obtained from the user behavior comprises one or more of key words used in key word searches, articles reviewed, web pages reviewed, articles purchased, discussions reviewed, discussions participated in, peer profiles selected for connection, articles or web pages saved or downloaded, and items clicked on in an info-graphics chart;
• the user interaction comprises at least one of annotating, highlighting, modifying, customizing, and adding comments to the accessed item;
• the details of the user interaction comprise at least one of:
• meta data describing the accessed item being annotated, modified, customized, commented on, or highlighted;
• meta data assigned to the annotation, modification, customization, comment, or highlighting;
• and results of sentiment analysis of the annotation, modification, customization, comment, or highlighted content;
• the implicit profile comprises a modifiable attributes field and a modifiable recency field;
• and
• the modifying of the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction comprises modifying the attributes field to include the details of the user interaction and modifying the recency field to include a time stamp corresponding to a time of the user interaction.

A computerized method for providing recommendations from a recommendation engine using an implicit profile of a user which implicit profile is continuously modifiable, comprising:

• providing the user with access to the recommendation engine for providing recommended items responsive to a user inquiry on a specific topic and peers with expertise pertaining to the specific topic;
• storing an explicit profile and the implicit profile of the user in a profile database associated with the recommendation engine;
• providing the user with electronic access to the recommended items in response to the user inquiry, the recommended items comprising at least one of an interactive info-graphics chart or a document containing an interactive info-graphics chart, the recommended items being maintained in at least one of a private recommendation engine database and a remote server in communication with the recommendation engine;
• enabling user interaction with the info-graphics chart;
• electronically tracking and storing details of the user interaction with the info-graphics chart;
• prioritizing the details of the user interaction based on at least one of recency of the user interaction, significance of the user interaction, and depth of the user interaction;
• modifying the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction;
• and
• serving one or more additional recommended items to the user based on the modified implicit profile, the one or more additional recommended items comprising one of an article, a chart, a graphic, a report, a web page, a peer recommendation, or a different document;
• wherein:
• the info-graphics chart comprises an X axis and a Y axis and an interactive graphics display enabling modification of one or more weights assigned to data elements represented in the info-graphics chart;
• the explicit profile comprises data provided by the user to the recommendation engine;
• the implicit profile in an unmodified state comprises information obtained from user behavior;
• the information obtained from the user behavior comprises one or more of key words used in key word searches, articles reviewed, web pages reviewed, articles purchased, discussions reviewed, discussions participated in, peer profiles selected for connection, articles or web pages saved or downloaded, and items clicked on in an info-graphics chart;
• the user interaction comprises at least modifying of the one or more weights assigned to the data elements in the info-graphics chart via the interactive graphics display;
• the implicit profile comprises a modifiable attributes field and a modifiable recency field;
• and
• the modifying of the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction comprises modifying the attributes field to include the details of the user interaction and modifying the recency field to include a time stamp corresponding to a time of the user interaction.

A system for providing recommendations from a recommendation engine using an implicit profile of a user which implicit profile is continuously modifiable, comprising:

• the recommendation engine for providing recommended items responsive to a user inquiry on a specific topic and peers with expertise pertaining to the specific topic;
• a profile database associated with the recommendation engine for storing an explicit profile and the implicit profile for the user;
• at least one of a private recommendation engine database and a remote server in communication with the recommendation engine for storing and maintaining the recommended items;
• a user interface providing the user with electronic access to the recommended items via the recommendation engine in response to the user inquiry, the recommended items comprising at least one of an interactive info-graphics chart or a document containing an interactive info-graphics chart, and enabling user interaction with the info-graphics chart;
• a software application for electronically tracking the user interaction with the info-graphics chart;
• a database for storing details of the user interaction with the info-graphics chart;
• wherein:
• the info-graphics chart comprises an X axis and a Y axis and an interactive graphics display enabling modification of one or more weights assigned to data elements represented in the info-graphics chart;
• the details of the user interaction are prioritized based on at least one of recency of the user interaction, significance of the user interaction, and depth of the user interaction;
• the software application modifies the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction;
• and
• the modified implicit profile is used by the recommendation engine to serve one or more additional recommended items to the user tailored to the modified implicit profile, the one or more additional recommended items comprising one of an article, a chart, a graphic, a report, a web page, a peer recommendation, or a different document;
• the explicit profile comprises data provided by the user to the recommendation engine;
• the implicit profile in an unmodified state comprises information obtained from user behavior;
• the information obtained from the user behavior comprises one or more of key words used in key word searches, articles reviewed, web pages reviewed, articles purchased, discussions reviewed, discussions participated in, peer profiles selected for connection, articles or web pages saved or downloaded, and items clicked on in an info-graphics chart;
• the user interaction comprises at least modifying of the one or more weights assigned to the data elements in the info-graphics chart via the interactive graphics display;
• the implicit profile comprises a modifiable attributes field and a modifiable recency field;
• and
• the modifying of the implicit profile based on the prioritized details of the user interaction comprises modifying the attributes field to include the details of the user interaction and modifying the recency field to include a time stamp corresponding to a time of the user interaction.