User modeling and user-adapted interaction

Abstract

User modeling has made considerable progress during its existence now of more than a decade. Particularly in the last few years, the need has been recognized in many application areas for software systems to automatically adapt to their current users. As a result, research on user modeling has extended into many disciplines which are concerned with the development of interactive computer systems that are used by heterogeneous user populations. These fields include Intelligent Interfaces, Active and Passive Help Systems, Guidance Systems, Hypertext Systems, Intelligent Information Retrieval, Natural-Language Systems, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Cooperative Expert Systems. Applications in office machines, consumer electronics and automobiles are also being envisioned. Several recent empirical evaluations provide support for the usefulness of user-adaptation in the investigated application domains.