October 04, 2006

netflix visualization

I’m not that interested in downloading the 700mb dataset that is the source data for the Netflix Prize, so here’s a lazyweb request.  I’m not smart enough to figure out a better prediction algorithm, but I am very interested in visualizing aggregate “movie mood” data over time from the Netflix community.  Are people “happier” about the movies they rate on the weekends? What do Monday patterns look like? What about holidays – do ratings go up from Thanksgiving to New Years?  Are there seasonal trends?  Does rating value correlate with major news stories?  (See also:  MoodViews.)