On a Web Mail System based on Web Agents

In this paper, we propose an intelligent notification of a new e-mail, and describe an implementation of the notification system. There are two ways to read e-mails by using a computer. One way is a mail system on a user’s personal computer. The other way is a web mail system on a web server. Using a web mail system is better for users because they can read e-mails by using other person’s personal computers. A web mail system has a problem. A web mail system is low immediacy. Users have to look at a web page of a web mail system again and again to check new e-mails. To solve this problem, we implemented a web mail system WisdomMail. WisdomMail is a web application based on a web agent. WisdomMail has a function that shows a notification of new e-mails without special plug-ins in a web browser. This system uses the web agent framework MiSpider. MiSpider enables developers to implement a web agent having a persistent function, a message passing function, and a graphical user interface. By using MiSpider, a notification of a new e-mail appears on a web page that a user is browsing. A feature of this system is that a notification of a new e-mail appears on any web pages. Also, the notification system automatically adjusts notification timing and a position of a notification on a web page. By using the notification system, users can read new e-mails without looking at a web page of a web mail system. Finally, we evaluated the scalability of the notification system and show experimental results.