User Modeling

Abstract

A user model contains the previously described set of user data (i.e., primary assumptions), rules to extend the given set of data (i.e., inference rules), and further assumptions (i.e., secondary assumptions) which are derived from the previous two sets, either in explicit or implicit form. This definition summarizes the constructive definitions of user models which describe user models as data sets containing particular items:

“A user model is that knowledge about the user, either explicitly or implicitly encoded, which is used by the system to improve the interaction.” [Finin, 1989, p. 412]

“A user model is a knowledge source in a natural-language dialog system which contains explicit assumptions on all aspects of the user that may be relevant to the dialog behavior of the system. These assumptions must be separable by the system from the rest of the system’s knowledge.” [Wahlster and Kobsa, 1989, p. 6]

or [Pohl, 1998, p. 1]:

“[...] a user model is a source of information, which contains assumptions about those aspects of a user that might be relevant for behavior of information adaptation.”