A few thoughts that have jumbled together as the new Summer 1 welcome emails
arrive:
- I look for people in the RC directory frequently, and it’s always a little
disappointing when someone’s profile is empty. I wonder if there’s a way to get
the contents of these welcome emails into people’s profiles, or vice versa. I
also wonder what the connections/stats are for Recursers who send welcome
emails, fill out their profile, or both.
- In some ways, the contents of the welcome emails are richer and provide more
color. The Interests field in the profile specifies “technical interests” in
the help text, but the introductory emails often include personal interests as
well as what people are hoping to experience in New York. The latter may not
be as evergreen as the rest of the profile content, but these personal details
provide so much color about the other people in the space.
- Part of the welcome email process is helping new and current Recursers
identify who shares their interests. At the start of our batch, there was a
post-it note concept wall as well. And being at RC and thinking about machine
learning, I wonder if there’s a way to make an automated assistant for this
process. Could a program pull the various interests/topics out of the welcome emails
and then help group people based on their expressed interests?