A method and a
system for the creation of agents to be used for recommending
media content to a user (207). The agent comprises a profile of
media content and can further comprise an
algorithm for recommending media (201) on a media
system (208). The media
system (208) can be a VCR, a TV, a set-top box, a
DVD player, a radio or a
personal computer. The method includes the steps of validating an agent in an off-line system (210), transferring agents forth and back between the off-line system (210) and an on-line system (203). The step of validating includes the steps of composing a
test set of historical content, estimating scores of an agent in the
test set, determine average difference between agent scores and historical
relevance feedback, determining performance of an agent using average difference of all agents over the
test set and reliability of historical
relevance feedback. The method further includes the steps of nominating agents in the on-line system (203), selecting agents and
copying agents forth and back between the on-line system (203) and the off-line system (210); importing, generating, training,
ranking, nominating and deleting agents in the off-line system (210).