Blog

Netflix Prize: Crowdsourcing for cash

In 2006 online movie rental company Netflix announced a contest called The Netflix Prize. The company's challenge? Beat its in-house movie recommendation system by 10%. Prize? $1 million.

More than 50,000 teams participated, but recently one team (a combination of four of the front running teams) announced that it reached 10.05% improvement.

People

Here’s a random sample of the people that make CITS such an exciting place. Refresh your browser to see a different group of folks.
Barbara Herr Harthorn

Barbara Herr Harthorn, Research Affiliate

Barbara Herr Harthorn, Principal Investigator and Director of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center: Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) at University of California at Santa Barbara, is also Associate Professor of Women's Studies, and Co-Director of the Center for Global Studies in the Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research.

S. Courtney Walton

S. Courtney Walton, Graduate Student

Pursuing research related to the attitudes and behaviors of mobile phone users, Courtney is interested in the interplay between mobile phone technology, social networks, gender, self-disclosure and perceptions of influence.

Doc Searls

Doc Searls, Fellow

Doc Searls' long and varied professional history includes work as a newspaper and magazine editor, radio personality and marketing executive.

Research Initiatives

Social Collaboration and Dynamic Communities

Social Collaboration and Dynamic Communities

The structure of communities and the myriad patterns of human engagement that comprise societies have always been tied fundamentally to technology.

Global Cultures in Transition

Global Cultures in Transition

Global Cultures in Transition is a research initiative affiliated with the Center for Information Technology and Society at UCSB.

Technology in Education

Technology in Education

Technology has long played a role in education. However, contrary to expectations, the adoption of technology in almost all areas of education has been surprisingly slow.

Ph.D. Emphasis in Technology & Society

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CITS supports the Technology & Society Ph.D. emphasis. The emphasis, available to students in participating doctoral programs, provides interdisciplinary training on the relationships between information technologies and society.

More on the Ph.D. Emphasis

Santa Barbara Forums

SB Forum

The Santa Barbara Forums bring together leading thinkers from universities, industry, media, foundations, and the not-for-profit world to exchange ideas about the dynamic interplay among information technology, social activity, and human psychological processes. Discussion and deliberation-focused panels, expert workshops, and design charrettes examine cutting-edge trends and long-term social transformations resulting from the use of information technologies, as well as exploring how to improve engineering with social insights.

More on the Santa Barbara Forums