Week 9 Worklog

Week 9 Goals:

  • Progress the development of a personalized recommendation system.
  • Continuously refine data inputs and address issues emerging during the training cycle.

Focus Areas This Week:

DayFocusStart DateCompletion DateReference
2Initial Model Setup:
- Configure the algorithm framework
- Load initial datasets for processing
- Start preliminary training routines
10/11/202511/11/2025AWS Personalize Docs https://docs.aws.amazon.com/personalize/
3Review early outputs and investigate anomalies or unexpected behaviors12/11/202512/11/2025
4Data Refinement:
- Introduce additional data fields
- Clean and reconcile dataset inconsistencies
- Repeat training cycle with revised data
12/11/202513/11/2025
5Assess updated model performance and examine metric shifts14/11/202514/11/2025
6Iterative observations and planning next refinement steps

Week 9 Reflection: Navigating Data and Training Challenges

This week highlighted the practical challenges of building a recommendation system and working with constrained data environments:

  • Limited Interaction Signals:
    The dataset mainly tracks completed actions (“Bookings”), lacking intermediary signals like “Views” or “Clicks”. This scarcity constrains the system’s ability to infer deeper user preferences, reflected in modest evaluation scores.

  • Validation Constraints:
    Without a fully functional front-end interface, real-world validation remains largely theoretical. Current assessment relies on quantitative metrics rather than intuitive, visual confirmation.

  • Pipeline Sensitivity to Schema Changes:
    Introducing new data attributes requires revisiting the preprocessing pipeline. Each adjustment involves re-cleaning, re-mapping, and retraining, highlighting the delicacy of the end-to-end workflow.

  • Key Takeaways:
    While specific cloud tools support dataset handling and model training, the main insights are procedural: ensuring dataset completeness, maintaining flexible pipelines, and carefully managing iterative training cycles.