collaborative filtering (kə-lab`ər-ə-tiv filtər-ēng) noun

A means of deriving information from the experiences and opinions of a number of people. The term was coined by Doug Terry at Xerox PARC, who first used the technique by allowing users to annotate documents as they read them and to choose which documents to read next based not only on their content but also on what others wrote about them. A common use of collaborative filtering is the creation of lists of World Wide Web pages of interest to particular people; by documenting the experiences of several people, a list of interesting Web sites can be "filtered." Collaborative filtering is also used as a marketing research toolby keeping a database of opinions and ratings regarding several products, researchers can predict which new products the people contributing to the database will like. See also backbone.