User models: Customizing E-commerce websites to the context of use

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of the growing complexity of the Internet. We focus our attention on e-commerce as a domain of application with which we can experiment. In this e-commerce context, we note the following: User interfaces play an important role in achieving user acceptance. Queries usually return more matches than the user can consult, or fewer matches than expected. The user is flooded. by unwanted and sometimes unsolicited information (e.g. advertisement banners that pop-up or appear as part of the main window of the browser). The information is sometimes very badly organized, which makes it difficult to read and scan through. Finally, some of the cultural and ethical values of shopping in stores are missing when shopping through the Internet (trust, honesty, negotiation, policy, etc.).