Creating collections with automatic suggestions and example-based refinement

To create collections, like music playlists from personal media libraries, users today typically do one of two things. They either manually select items one-by-one, which can be time consuming, or they use an example-based recommendation system to automatically generate a collection. While such automatic engines are convenient, they offer the user limited control over how items are selected. Based on prior research and our own observations of existing practices, we propose a semi-automatic interface for creating collections that combines automatic suggestions with manual refinement tools. Our system includes a keyword query interface for specifying high-level collection preferences (e.g., "some rock, no Madonna, lots of U2,") as well as three example-based collection refinement techniques: 1) a suggestion widget for adding new items in-place in the context of the collection; 2) a mechanism for exploring alternatives for one or more collection items; and 3) a two-pane linked interface that helps users browse their libraries based on any selected collection item. We demonstrate our approach with two applications. SongSelect helps users create music playlists, and PhotoSelect helps users select photos for sharing. Initial user feedback is positive and confirms the need for semi-automated tools that give users control over automatically created collections.