In this paper, we address the problem of personalization in question answering (QA). We describe the personalization component of YourQA, our web-based QA system, which creates individual models of users based on their reading level and interests. First, we explain how user models are dynamically created, saved and updated to filter and re-rank the answers. Then, we focus on how the user’s inte...

The design of a user interface usable by blind people sets specific usability requirements that are unnecessary for sighted users. These requirements focus on task adequacy, dimensional trade-off, behaviour equivalence, semantic loss avoidance and device-independency. Consequently, the development of human-computer interfaces (HCI) that are based on task, domain, dialog, presentation, platform ...

Adaptive systems cover a broad range of interactive systems which adjust to new tasks, situations, users or expressions. These systems identify and classify relevant features to develop over time, adjusting their behaviour to different users and situations. The topic of this paper is adaptation in spoken dialogue systems based on features in the dialogue. These systems automatically extract dia...

This paper describes a graphical user interface that provides intelligent help to users based on its user modelling component. The graphical user interface is called Intelligent File Manipulator (IFM). IFM monitors users while they work; in case a user has made a mistake, IFM intervenes automatically and offers advice. The reasoning of the user modelling component of IFM is largely based on an ...

Data-driven models are the basis of all adaptive systems. Adaption to the user requires that the models are driven from real user data. However, in educational technology real data is seldom used, and all general-purpose learning environments are predefined by the system designers. In this thesis, we analyze how the existing knowledge discovery methods could be utilized in implementing adaptivi...

The paper looks at the current state of development in transportation modelling and tries to identify future developments which are either likely or desirable. It discusses developments in the fields of data modelling, surveying techniques for supply and demand data, traffic assignment and travel forecasting models, microscopic modelling, and user interface.

A user-centred approach to systems design and evaluation is presented. In particular task modelling is proposed as a bridging technology for understanding users' needs, feeding this understanding into design and evaluating the usability of design choices. The approach is proposed as a general methodological framework for the design, the development and the evaluation of interactive systems. We ...

There is a growing consensus that if substantial software engineering productivity improvements are to be realised, much greater attention must be paid to the socalled "softer" (or people-centred) factors. A software engineering process modelling framework is presented. The focus of this work is on behavioural aspects.. A feature of the framework is that user views, in a variety of modelling fo...

The combination of low and falling costs of storage, combined with increasingly pervasive and ubiquitous computing are creating the possibility of very long term user modelling. This paper explores some of the fundamental questions about the nature of a lifelong user model. It begins by exploring the relationship between the new goals that lifelong user models can support and the concomitant is...

This works presents a user modelling service for a Smart Home – intelligent context-aware environment, providing personalized proactive support to its inhabitants. Diversity of Smart Home applications imposes various technical and implementation requirements, such as the need to model dependency of user preferences on context in a unified and convenient way, both for users and for application d...