The MyMedia Collaborative Research Project Announces the Public Release of Recommender System Software

AACHEN, Germany — 30 June 2009 — The MyMedia EU-funded collaborative research project today announced the public release of recommender system software. The project, led by the European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC), based in Aachen, Germany, is exploring the use of intelligent recommender system technology to identify multimedia content such as TV and Radio programs suited to individual users' personal tastes and interests. EMIC, the coordinator of the project, together with the BBC, BT, Microgenésis, Novay, Eindhoven Technical University and the University of Hildesheim, is developing technology to help make sense of the vast amount of multimedia information available today and to avoid information overload.

Launched in January 2008 through funding from the European Union's 7th Framework Programme, the MyMedia project explores the 'dynamic personalization' of multimedia by providing powerful and flexible recommendation services for IPTV, Video on Demand and the Web. The recommender system provides personal recommendations, taking personality and mood into consideration. The next phase of the project will pilot several innovative trials of the technology, including Microsoft's MSN video sharing and social community ClipClub, a web-based TV and radio service from the BBC and Microgenésis' eCommerce application, Yogui, with approximately 500 participants across Europe.

"Given the breadth and experience of the partners involved, the potential benefits to consumers across Europe, in a short space of time, is clear" said Alexander Voss, Programme Manager, Microsoft EMIC and Project Co-ordinator of MyMedia. "We are excited about the prospect of driving even greater insight into recommender system technology."

The public software release provides all the components required to build a state-of-the-art recommender system consisting of an overall recommender framework, a selection of recommender engines and metadata enrichment components.

Regarding the business impact of recommender systems, Laura de la Rua, R+D Operation Manager, Microgénesis said: "From the perspective of an SME like Microgénesis, MyMedia happens to be an excellent opportunity to enhance our e-commerce application features. In the increasingly competitive world of digital content distribution, a powerful recommender system, able to provide appealing recommendations as in MyMedia, is a true advantage over our competitors."

For further information, please visit the MyMedia website at: http://www.mymediaproject.org/PublicRelease.aspx.

Contact details:

Alexander Voß
Program Manager
European Microsoft Innovation Center GmbH (EMIC)
Phone: +49.241.99784.34
E-mail: alexander.voss@microsoft.com