Auhindadest: Netflixi miljon ja midagi parimale Aafrika riigi valitsejale

Minu magistritöö (PDF) on järgmisel nädalal olnud kuu aega hindamisel. Selle aja jooksul olen korduvalt saanud mõelda selle üle, mida oleks saanud teha paremini - mida lisad, millele rohkem tähelepanu pöörata. Kõige murelikumaks teeb mind potentsiaalne fookuse hajumine, kuid samas arvestades seda, et tööst on nii 60% kirjutatud samal ajal ka tööl käies olen enda valikutega üpris rahul.

Teiselt poolt tuleb pidevalt peale uusi ja huvitavaid auhindade kasutamise võimalusi, mis ühtlasi annavad ideid ja mõtteid, mida tahaks enda töösse integreerida...isegi pregu. Viimase kuu jooksul on meelde jäänud kaks väga huvitavat auhindade kasutamise meetodit.

Esimene neist on Netflix'i poolt välja kuulutatud 1 miljoni dollari suurune auhind, mille eesmärgiks parandada Netflixi poolt tehtavate soovituste täpsust. Nagu nad ise kirjutavad:

Now there are a lot of interesting alternative approaches to how Cinematch works that we haven’t tried. Some are described in the literature, some aren’t. We’re curious whether any of these can beat Cinematch by making better predictions. Because, frankly, if there is a much better approach it could make a big difference to our customers and our business.

So, we thought we’d make a contest out of finding the answer. It’s "easy" really. We provide you with a lot of anonymous rating data, and a prediction accuracy bar that is 10% better than what Cinematch can do on the same training data set. (Accuracy is a measurement of how closely predicted ratings of movies match subsequent actual ratings.) If you develop a system that we judge most beats that bar on the qualifying test set we provide, you get serious money and the bragging rights. But (and you knew there would be a catch, right?) only if you share your method with us and describe to the world how you did it and why it works.

Serious money demands a serious bar. We suspect the 10% improvement is pretty tough, but we also think there is a good chance it can be achieved. It may take months; it might take years. So to keep things interesting, in addition to the Grand Prize, we’re also offering a $50,000 Progress Prize each year the contest runs. It goes to the team whose system we judge shows the most improvement over the previous year’s best accuracy bar on the same qualifying test set. No improvement, no prize. And like the Grand Prize, to win you’ll need to share your method with us and describe it for the world.

Ma kirjeldasin midagi sarnast enda magistritöös InnoCentive'it näitena kasutades, seega pole Netflix'i auhinna välja kuulutamine eriline traagika. Küll aga oleks soovinud olla teadlik teisest auhinnast. BBC vahendab:

A $5m prize for Africa's most effective head of state is being launched by one of the continent's top businessmen.
UK-based mobile phone entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim - who was born in Egypt - is behind the plan to rate governance in 53 African countries each year.

The contest, launched in London, will award winning leaders $5m (£2.7m) over 10 years when they leave office, plus $200,000 (£107,000) a year for life.

"We need to remove corruption and improve governance," Mr Ibrahim said.

Ma jään huviga jälgima, kuidas nende auhindadega läheb, sest auhindade näol on tegu väga paindlike ajenditega, mille kasutamist piiravad praegu peamiselt inimeste harjumused ja rõhuasetus intellektuaalse omandi kaitsele.