An empirical study of Web personalization assistants supporting end-users in Web information systems

Abstract

Currently, the two main techniques for achieving personalization on the Internet involve direct manipulation and software agents. While both direct manipulation and software agents are aimed at permitting end-users to finish tasks rapidly, efficiently, and easily, their methodologies differ The central controversy involving these personalization techniques derives from the amount of control that each grants to - or withholds from - the end-user. Direct manipulation interfaces afford control and predictability to end-users. Alternatively, the use of software agents captures or records user's personalized preferences by employing artificial intelligence techniques. In this empirical study, two end-user Web personalization tools are evaluated. One of them, WebPersonalizer, is an agent-based end-user personalization tool; the other, AntWorld, is a collaborative recommendation tool which provides direct manipulation interfaces. The purpose of this study is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each opposed technique-direct manipulation and software agents - as a Web personalization assistant. In addition, we suggest the hybrid paradigm for EUP (end-user programming).