Utilization of Fuzzy Theory in the Modeling of Users of Adaptive Hypermedia Systems

Abstract

Most of the software systems are not developed taking into account the heterogeneous needs of users. It is known that each user has different levels of knowledge, goals, abilities, and preferences. This fact emphasizes the need of developing systems which can adapt themselves to different types of user, or stereotypes. Since the description of the knowledge and features of the user involves uncertainness and imprecise sense, the fuzzy theory can be applied in order to deal with this vagueness. This paper proposes a user model for adaptive hypermedia systems using a structure, based on fuzzy theory. This model is able to properly reflect some of the user characteristics in the model, and adapt its own navigation and the content of hypermedia nodes for the user needs.