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Building Interactive Embedding Visualizations

admin said in #4944 5d ago: received

https://cprimozic.net/blog/building-embedding-visualizations-from-user-profiles/

I've been thinking for a while I'd love to represent topical clusters on a 2d or 3d map that users can actively explore. Instead of just having The Algorithm locate you on some manifold and then feed you specially calibrated slop, focus the algorithms on actually illustrating the structure of the manifold visually and by other means, so that you can explore it. This gives the agency to the user instead of the machine. I envision a sofiechan "Atlas" that works like this. Not needed until we have a lot more, but a neat idea that I like to think about.

I randomly came across this article from a guy chasing the same hunch about the value of embedding visualizations. I wanted to share for discussion. Besides the pretty pictures and technical details, I liked this little bit of the philosophy he's taking, which I share:

>Behind the scenes, it's very likely that the recommendation models are using embeddings or something very similar to them to achieve this. Embedding visualizations allow for a self-led and exploratory method for finding new things compared to the one-dimensional and opaque view given by "for you" lists or recommendation engines.

>I have a lot of interest in breaking through the black box of these kinds of opaque systems and piecing together the hidden relationships between things — and I've found embedding visualizations to be ideal tools for this.

Embedding visualization is the high tech superior alternative to the for you page.

referenced by: >>4947

I've been thinking f received

xenophon said in #4947 5d ago: received

>>4944

In addition to basic capabilities (such as click on the map, zoom in, and navigate to a post), it would be cool to be able to draw a bounding circle on the map and have that converted to the corresponding set of posts.

referenced by: >>4948

In addition to basic received

admin said in #4948 5d ago: received

>>4947
Yeah that would be the idea. You can zoom and pan and such, and then you get a list of posts like the front page but corresponding to what you see on the map. Ideally it would be stable enough that you could basically go back to your familiar corners to find whatever is the latest and best there, or go explore for whatever is happening elsewhere. This is late on the todo list behind our more practical needs, but it would be cool to do it some day. It's not even hard really.

Yeah that would be t received

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