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> You get a cool page like this -> https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/bwb https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/bwb How do I get to my page? The profile section is ve

> You get a cool page like this -> https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/bwb https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/bwb How do I get to my page? The profile section is very spartan. I'm not even sure whether my profile picture was submitted.

bwb 2y ago
Yep go here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads To submit your 3 favorites, and then we will email you once the page is ready. Ya sorry, brand new and working on the profile to improve it and the image bit. Hit me up at ben@shepherd.com if you need any help.
- dunefox 2y ago
  > then we will email you once the page is ready. Ah, I completely missed this part. Long day. > Ya sorry, brand new and working on the profile to improve it and the image bit. Don't worry, so far I like the site quite a bit, especially since there is much more about ancient mesopotamia than I had thought!
  - bwb 2y ago
    Sweet thanks! I am going to work a ton this winter to improve topic/genre accuracy, as I think we have more on Mesopotamia but the system is struggling to tag it correctly. We are using an older NLP/ML system that isn't working as well as newer ones. Update coming soon.
    - dunefox 2y ago
      Great to hear. Also, a very interesting topic for me since this is close to my masters degree and current job. For a niche topic like ancient mesopotamia I was surprised. Is there a blog post or something about how the site works behind the scenes?
      - bwb 2y ago
        Very cool! What is your job? I blog every 2 to 3 weeks here about building it: https://build.shepherd.com/ https://build.shepherd.com/ But I am not a developer, so it only goes into things lightly, like our topic system with NLP/ML and other topics. (hoping to be a dev in a few years enough to work on it as well) Here are a few, are these interesting or too mundane? https://build.shepherd.com/p/a-big-focus-for-2024-improving-genre?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/a-big-focus-for-2024-improving-... https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-updated-topic-system-is-live-1217414?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-updated-topic... https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-topic-pages-nlp-and-computer-magic-699369?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-topic-pages-n... https://build.shepherd.com/p/sneak-peek-at-genre-and-age-group https://build.shepherd.com/p/sneak-peek-at-genre-and-age-gro... It is python / Django on the backend, nothing crazy I think.
        dunefox 2y ago
        Currently, I'm working as a Data Scientist on document retrieval/text matching, and I have a masters degree in a topic close to computer science and linguistics. > Here are a few, are these interesting or too mundane? Thanks, I'll have a look. It's quite interesting, even if it's not very technical, since recently I started thinking about building a book trade or selling network for close friends and their friends (invitation based). > It is python / Django on the backend, nothing crazy I think. A solid choice, I think. Do you use something like openlibrary.org as well?
        bwb 2y ago
        Nice! That is a very cool idea! I've been thinking about something like that to help fund the website, which is a network of book trades, and you get credit for a new used book for every trade. Although I was going to charge $10 a year or $1 a book to go 80% toward authors and 20% toward the website. > Do you use something like openlibrary.org as well? When I last looked in 2020, the data quality on open library was really bad, so I didn't use them. We created every book recommended in our system manually, as we needed to find high-quality cover images, and it was an easy way to start. Eventually, we licensed data from the Nielsen API. It has not been a great experience, but it works "ok." I also looked at Ingram and Bokwer. Now things are 90% automated, but we still have to source a high quality cover for each book as the book APIs have such small images. I am hoping to expand our book DB in 2025 to all books for a lot of the new features. I am going to look at Open Library again then, as it might work better for that limited functionality. I also could have been too pedantic back in 2020 when i looked at them :)

bwb 2y ago

Yep go here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads To submit your 3 favorites, and then we will email you once the page is ready. Ya sorry, brand new and working on the profile to improve it and the image bit. Hit me up at ben@shepherd.com if you need any help.

dunefox 2y ago
> then we will email you once the page is ready. Ah, I completely missed this part. Long day. > Ya sorry, brand new and working on the profile to improve it and the image bit. Don't worry, so far I like the site quite a bit, especially since there is much more about ancient mesopotamia than I had thought!
- bwb 2y ago
  Sweet thanks! I am going to work a ton this winter to improve topic/genre accuracy, as I think we have more on Mesopotamia but the system is struggling to tag it correctly. We are using an older NLP/ML system that isn't working as well as newer ones. Update coming soon.
  - dunefox 2y ago
    Great to hear. Also, a very interesting topic for me since this is close to my masters degree and current job. For a niche topic like ancient mesopotamia I was surprised. Is there a blog post or something about how the site works behind the scenes?
    - bwb 2y ago
      Very cool! What is your job? I blog every 2 to 3 weeks here about building it: https://build.shepherd.com/ https://build.shepherd.com/ But I am not a developer, so it only goes into things lightly, like our topic system with NLP/ML and other topics. (hoping to be a dev in a few years enough to work on it as well) Here are a few, are these interesting or too mundane? https://build.shepherd.com/p/a-big-focus-for-2024-improving-genre?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/a-big-focus-for-2024-improving-... https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-updated-topic-system-is-live-1217414?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-updated-topic... https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-topic-pages-nlp-and-computer-magic-699369?utm_source=publication-search https://build.shepherd.com/p/building-shepherd-topic-pages-n... https://build.shepherd.com/p/sneak-peek-at-genre-and-age-group https://build.shepherd.com/p/sneak-peek-at-genre-and-age-gro... It is python / Django on the backend, nothing crazy I think.
      - dunefox 2y ago
        Currently, I'm working as a Data Scientist on document retrieval/text matching, and I have a masters degree in a topic close to computer science and linguistics. > Here are a few, are these interesting or too mundane? Thanks, I'll have a look. It's quite interesting, even if it's not very technical, since recently I started thinking about building a book trade or selling network for close friends and their friends (invitation based). > It is python / Django on the backend, nothing crazy I think. A solid choice, I think. Do you use something like openlibrary.org as well?
        bwb 2y ago
        Nice! That is a very cool idea! I've been thinking about something like that to help fund the website, which is a network of book trades, and you get credit for a new used book for every trade. Although I was going to charge $10 a year or $1 a book to go 80% toward authors and 20% toward the website. > Do you use something like openlibrary.org as well? When I last looked in 2020, the data quality on open library was really bad, so I didn't use them. We created every book recommended in our system manually, as we needed to find high-quality cover images, and it was an easy way to start. Eventually, we licensed data from the Nielsen API. It has not been a great experience, but it works "ok." I also looked at Ingram and Bokwer. Now things are 90% automated, but we still have to source a high quality cover for each book as the book APIs have such small images. I am hoping to expand our book DB in 2025 to all books for a lot of the new features. I am going to look at Open Library again then, as it might work better for that limited functionality. I also could have been too pedantic back in 2020 when i looked at them :)