Thanks for your message!
That's an interesting question; this was a small challenge for some reasons.
1. Since this is my first project, I wanted to ship something clean but fast (scope down to one feature).
2. I initially wanted to use some APIs. TLDR: Goodreads closed its API on December 8th, 2020. OpenLibrary was not bad, but the data required to be more consistent. Google Books API was alright, but I would have also curated manually in the end, and sometimes some info could have been better. Maybe it's a personal feeling, but it's hard to have a good books API out there (probably due to Amazon owning Goodreads and making sure it's hard for competitors to have good data as they do).
3. I knew it'd be complex to satisfy everyone with the recommendations, but I can do my best. My best is to ensure that what is recommended is included, even if it's a small amount, and that the recommendation is well rated by the community (e.g., on Goodreads).
4. Then, I realized (again) that we're in the age of AI, and I could leverage that (at least for a 1st release and see how it goes). Based on that, I tried different prompts with many criteria until I found one I liked. By doing this, I could ensure the quality of what was curated.
If it evolves in the future, this will definitely need improvement. But, for a first release, it does the trick!
I hope it answers your question!
That's an interesting question; this was a small challenge for some reasons.
1. Since this is my first project, I wanted to ship something clean but fast (scope down to one feature).
2. I initially wanted to use some APIs. TLDR: Goodreads closed its API on December 8th, 2020. OpenLibrary was not bad, but the data required to be more consistent. Google Books API was alright, but I would have also curated manually in the end, and sometimes some info could have been better. Maybe it's a personal feeling, but it's hard to have a good books API out there (probably due to Amazon owning Goodreads and making sure it's hard for competitors to have good data as they do).
3. I knew it'd be complex to satisfy everyone with the recommendations, but I can do my best. My best is to ensure that what is recommended is included, even if it's a small amount, and that the recommendation is well rated by the community (e.g., on Goodreads).
4. Then, I realized (again) that we're in the age of AI, and I could leverage that (at least for a 1st release and see how it goes). Based on that, I tried different prompts with many criteria until I found one I liked. By doing this, I could ensure the quality of what was curated.
If it evolves in the future, this will definitely need improvement. But, for a first release, it does the trick!
I hope it answers your question!