Virtual bartender: a dialog system combining data-driven and knowledge-based recommendation

Abstract

This research is about combination of data-driven and knowledge-based recommendations The research is made in an application scenario for whisky recommendation, where a guest chats with a recommender system. Preferences about taste are difficult to express and the knowledge about taste is tacit and thus can hardly be represented and used adequately. People or not aware of how to describe flavors in a standardized way and how to do a justified choice. This is because knowledge about taste is mainly tacit knowledge. To deal with this knowledge, data-driven recommendation is adequate. On the other hand, in particular experienced customers use knowledge about distilleries, locations and the distillery process to express their preferences and want to have arguments for the recommended products. This shows that a combination of data-driven and knowledge-based recommendations is appropriate in areas where tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are available.