Information Services Based on User Profile Communication

Abstract

Web-based, user-adaptive information services impose a difficult requirement on user modeling: the inference schema for user modeling and user-adapted information retrieval must be maintained over time. There are two reasons for this: 1) the information itself may change; and 2) the user group is largely unknown from the start, and may change during the usage of the system. To address these problems, we view profile structures and information classifications as means of communication as well as means for automatic information retrieval. Users communicate their information needs, and editors communicate the structure and content of available information. Our focus is to provide tools in which such communication can be efficiently accomplished. These tools are then used to enhance the day-to-day information retrieval in terms of information filtering and search.