CONTEXTUAL PERSONALIZED LIST OF RECOMMENDED COURSES

1 . A computer implemented method comprising:

detecting an event indicating that a viewer represented by a viewer member profile in an on-line social network system is accessing a target section of an electronic presentation, the target section associated with a target set of skills, each skill from the target set of skills corresponds to an entry in a skills database maintained in the on-line social network system, each skill from the target set of skills assigned a respective importance score;

in response to the detecting, examining a skills section in the viewer member profile to determine a set of viewer skills, the skills section in the viewer member profile populated with one or more values corresponding to respective entries from the skills database, each skill from the set of viewer skills assigned a respective significance score;

using at least one processor, generating a personalized importance score for each skill in the target set of skills using the respective importance scores and the respective significance scores;

interrogating an inverted index of skills using the target set of skills to generate a candidate set of courses, an entry in the inverted index of skills comprising a skill identification with an associated course identification, the skill identification corresponding to an entry in the skills database, the candidate set of courses comprising course identification represented by those entries from the inverted index of skills that include a skill from the target set of skills and at least one associated course identification;

using at least one processor, generating respective relevance values for courses in the candidate set of courses based on respective personalized importance scores assigned to skills from the target set of skills that correspond to skills associated with respective course identifications from the candidate set of courses; and

selecting, based on the respective relevance values, a presentation set of courses from the candidate set of courses for presentation on a display device together with a presentation of the target section on the display device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising causing presentation, on a display device, of a reference to an electronic course corresponding to an item in the presentation set of courses.

3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising generating the respective significance scores for skills in the set of viewer skills, wherein the generating of a significance score for a skill in the set of viewer skills comprises:

generating a skills graph with nodes representing skills of the viewer;

determining centrality score for the skill represented by a node in the skills graph using a graph analysis technique; and

using the centrality score to generate the significance score for the skill.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the using of the centrality score to generate the significance score for the skill comprises identifying the centrality score as the significance score for the skill.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the generating of the significance score comprises:

determining an endorsement score for the skill based on a number of endorsements of the skill by the viewer's connections in the on-line social network system; and

using the endorsement score in addition to the centrality score to generate the significance score.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of a relevance value for an item from the candidate set of courses comprises using a course feature associated with the item and a probability value reflecting preference of the viewer with respect to the course feature.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the course feature represents video quality of a course represented by the item.

8 . The method of claim 6 , comprising utilizing historical data reflecting activity of the viewer with respect to the on-line social network system to generate the probability value.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target section is from a plurality of sections in the electronic presentation.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target section of the electronic presentation corresponds to the entire electronic presentation.

11 . A computer-implemented system comprising:

an event detector, implemented using at least one processor, to detect an event indicating that a viewer represented by a viewer member profile in an on-line social network system is accessing a target section of an electronic presentation, the target section associated with a target set of skills, each skill from the target set of skills corresponds to an entry in a skills database maintained in the on-line social network system, each skill from the target set of skills assigned a respective importance score;

a viewer skills detector, implemented using at least one processor, to, in response to the detecting, examine a skills section in the viewer member profile to determine a set of viewer skills, the skills section in the viewer member profile populated with one or more values corresponding to respective entries from the skills database, each skill from the set of viewer skills assigned a respective significance score;

a personalized importance score generator, implemented using at least one processor, to generate a personalized importance score for each skill in the target set of skills using the respective importance scores and the respective significance scores;

a recommendation generator, implemented using at least one processor, to interrogate an inverted index of skills using the target set of skills to generate a candidate set of courses, an entry in the inverted index of skills comprising a skill identification with an associated course identification, the skill identification corresponding to an entry in the skills database, the candidate set of courses comprising course identification represented by those entries from the inverted index of skills that include a skill from the target set of skills and at least one associated course identification; and

a ranker, implemented using at least one processor, to:

generate respective relevance values for courses in the candidate set of courses based on respective personalized importance scores assigned to skills from the target set of skills that correspond to skills associated with respective course identifications from the candidate set of courses, and

select, based on the respective relevance values, a presentation set of courses from the candidate set of courses for presentation on a display device together with a presentation of the target section on the display device.

12 . The system of claim 11 , comprising a presentation generator, implemented using at least one processor, to cause presentation, on a display device, of a reference to an electronic course corresponding to an item in the presentation set of courses.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the personalized importance score generator is to generate the respective significance scores for skills in the set of viewer skills, wherein the generating of a significance score for a skill in the set of viewer skills comprises:

generating a skills graph with nodes representing skills of the viewer;

determining centrality score for the skill represented by a node in the skills graph using a graph analysis technique; and

using the centrality score to generate the significance score for the skill.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the using of the centrality score to generate the significance score for the skill comprises identifying the centrality score as the significance score for the skill.

15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the generating of the significance score comprises:

determining an endorsement score for the skill based on a number of endorsements of the skill by the viewer's connections in the on-line social network system; and

using the endorsement score in addition to the centrality score to generate the significance score.

16 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the ranker is to generate a relevance value for an item from the candidate set of courses using a course feature associated with the item and a probability value reflecting preference of the viewer with respect to the course feature.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the course feature represents video quality of a course represented by the item.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the ranker is to utilize historical data reflecting activity of the viewer with respect to the on-line social network system to generate the probability value.

19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the target section is from a plurality of sections in the entire electronic presentation.

20 . A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instruction data executable by a machine to cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting an event indicating that a viewer represented by a viewer member profile in an on-line social network system is accessing a target section of an electronic presentation, the target section associated with a target set of skills, each skill from the target set of skills corresponds to an entry in a skills database maintained in the on-line social network system, each skill from the target set of skills assigned a respective importance score;

in response to the detecting, examining a skills section in the viewer member profile to determine a set of viewer skills, the skills section in the viewer member profile populated with one or more values corresponding to respective entries from the skills database, each skill from the set of viewer skills assigned a respective significance score;

using at least one processor, generating a personalized importance score for each skill in the target set of skills using the respective importance scores and the respective significance scores;

interrogating an inverted index of skills using the target set of skills to generate a candidate set of courses, an entry in the inverted index of skills comprising a skill identification with an associated course identification, the skill identification corresponding to an entry in the skills database, the candidate set of courses comprising course identification represented by those entries from the inverted index of skills that include a skill from the target set of skills and at least one associated course identification;

generating respective relevance values for courses in the candidate set of courses based on respective personalized importance scores assigned to skills from the target set of skills that correspond to skills associated with respective course identifications from the candidate set of courses; and

selecting, based on the respective relevance values, a presentation set of courses from the candidate set of courses for presentation on a display device.