Diversity of What? On the Different Conceptualizations of Diversity in Recommender Systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how practitioners in Dutch public service media organizations conceptualize diversity in recommender systems, revealing significant variation and emphasizing the need for clear communication of diversity goals.

Contribution

It provides an empirical exploration of diverse conceptualizations of diversity in recommender systems across different organizations, highlighting the importance of context-specific understanding.

Findings

Conceptualizations of diversity vary greatly across organizations.

Standardized definitions of diversity are unlikely to be achieved.

Effective communication of diversity goals is crucial for operationalization.

Abstract

Diversity is a commonly known principle in the design of recommender systems, but also ambiguous in its conceptualization. Through semi-structured interviews we explore how practitioners at three different public service media organizations in the Netherlands conceptualize diversity within the scope of their recommender systems. We provide an overview of the goals that they have with diversity in their systems, which aspects are relevant, and how recommendations should be diversified. We show that even within this limited domain, conceptualization of diversity greatly varies, and argue that it is unlikely that a standardized conceptualization will be achieved. Instead, we should focus on effective communication of what diversity in this particular system means, thus allowing for operationalizations of diversity that are capable of expressing the nuances and requirements of that particular domain.