Event and map content personalisation in a mobile and context-aware-environment

Effective methods for information access are of the greatest importance for our modern lives -- particularly with respect to handheld devices. Personalisation is one such method which models a user's characteristics to deliver content more focused to the user's needs. The emerging area of sophisticated mobile computing devices has started to inspire new forms of personalised systems that include aspects of the person's contextual environment. This thesis seeks to understand the role of personalisation and context, to evaluate the effectiveness of context for content personalisation and to investigate the event and map content domain for mobile usage. The work presented in this thesis has three parts. The first part is a user experiment on context that investigated the contextual attributes of time, location and interest, with respect to participants' perception of their usefulness. Results show highly dynamic and interconnected effects of context on participants' usefulness ratings. In the second part, these results were applied to create a predictive model of context that was related to attribution theory and then combined with an information retrieval score to create a weighted personalisation model. In the third part of this work, the personalisation model was applied in a mobile experiment. Participants solved situational search tasks using a (i) non-personalized and a (ii) personalized mobile information system, and rating entertainment events based on usefulness. Results showed that the personalised system delivered about 20% more useful content to the mobile user than the non-personalised system, with some indication for reduced search effort in terms of time and the amount of queries per task. The work presented provides evidence for the promising potential of context to facilitate personalised information delivery to users of mobile devices. Overall, it serves as an example of an investigation into the effectiveness of context from multiple angles and provides a potential link to some of the aspects of psychology as a potential source for a deeper understanding of contextual processes in humans.

[1]  Chris Schmandt,et al.  Location-Aware Information Delivery with ComMotion , 2000, HUC.

[2]  Mark Levene,et al.  Personalisation of Web Search , 2003, ITWP.

[3]  B. Weiner,et al.  Cue utilization and attributional judgments for success and failure , 1971 .

[4]  Birger Larsen,et al.  ACM SIGIR 2004 Workshop on "Information Retrieval in Context" , 2004 .

[5]  Alfred Kobsa,et al.  Adaptable and adaptive information provision for all users, including disabled and elderly people , 1998, New Rev. Hypermedia Multim..

[6]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  Advanced Interaction in Context , 1999, HUC.

[7]  Richard Hull,et al.  Towards situated computing , 1997, Digest of Papers. First International Symposium on Wearable Computers.

[8]  Loriene Roy,et al.  Content-based book recommending using learning for text categorization , 1999, DL '00.

[9]  Hao Wang,et al.  A wireless LAN-based indoor positioning technology , 2004, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[10]  Virpi Roto,et al.  Interaction in 4-second bursts: the fragmented nature of attentional resources in mobile HCI , 2005, CHI.

[11]  Marcus Specht,et al.  A Context-sensitive Nomadic Information System as an Exhibition Guide , 2000 .

[12]  Ayse Göker,et al.  User Context and Personalisation , 2002, ECCBR Workshops.

[13]  Peter Ingwersen,et al.  The development of a method for the evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems , 1997, J. Documentation.

[14]  Jaime Teevan,et al.  Implicit feedback for inferring user preference: a bibliography , 2003, SIGF.

[15]  John D. Cunningham,et al.  Causal attributions for interpersonal events of varying magnitude1 , 1975 .

[16]  T. Joachims.  WebWatcher : A Tour Guide for the World Wide Web , 1997 .

[17]  Bradley N. Miller,et al.  GroupLens: applying collaborative filtering to Usenet news , 1997, CACM.

[18]  Alexander Pretschner,et al.  Ontology based personalized search , 1999, Proceedings 11th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence.

[19]  Bill N. Schilit,et al.  Context-aware computing applications , 1994, Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications.

[20]  Ayse Göker,et al.  Evaluation of a mobile information system in context , 2008, Inf. Process. Manag..

[21]  Morris Sloman,et al.  QoS and Context Awareness for Mobile Computing , 1999, HUC.

[22]  Antti Oulasvirta,et al.  Understanding Mobile Contexts , 2003, Mobile HCI.

[23]  M. E. Maron,et al.  On Relevance, Probabilistic Indexing and Information Retrieval , 1960, JACM.

[24]  Karen Spärck Jones.  A statistical interpretation of term specificity and its application in retrieval , 2021, J. Documentation.

[25]  Ayse Göker,et al.  Content retrieval and mobile users: An outdoor investigation of an ambient travel guide , 2004 .

[26]  Jesper Kjeldskov,et al.  Is It Worth the Hassle? Exploring the Added Value of Evaluating the Usability of Context-Aware Mobile Systems in the Field , 2004, Mobile HCI.

[27]  Douglas B. Terry,et al.  Using collaborative filtering to weave an information tapestry , 1992, CACM.

[28]  Erina Ferro,et al.  Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless protocols: a survey and a comparison , 2005, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[29]  Henry Lieberman,et al.  Out of context: Computer systems that adapt to, and learn from, context , 2000, IBM Syst. J..

[30]  Ibrahim Cingil,et al.  A broader approach to personalization , 2000, CACM.

[31]  Alan F. Smeaton,et al.  Joint DELOS-NSF workshop on personalisation and recommender systems in digital libraries , 2001, SIGF.

[32]  E. Chisholm,et al.  New Term Weighting Formulas for the Vector Space Method in Information Retrieval , 1999 .

[33]  John Riedl,et al.  GroupLens: an open architecture for collaborative filtering of netnews , 1994, CSCW '94.

[34]  Andy Hopper,et al.  A new location technique for the active office , 1997, IEEE Wirel. Commun..

[35]  Waclaw Frydrych,et al.  Preface to Proceedings , 2007, Discuss. Math. Graph Theory.

[36]  Werner Retschitzegger,et al.  Context-awareness on mobile devices - the hydrogen approach , 2003, 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the.

[37]  Lora Aroyo,et al.  Embedding information retrieval in adaptive hypermedia: IR meets AHA! , 2004, New Rev. Hypermedia Multim..

[38]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  A Survey of Map-based Mobile Guides , 2005 .

[39]  Birger Larsen,et al.  Proceedings of the ACM SIGIR 2005 Workshop on Information Retrieval in Context (IRiX) , 2005 .

[40]  Gerard Salton,et al.  Term-Weighting Approaches in Automatic Text Retrieval , 1988, Inf. Process. Manag..

[41]  Cyril W. Cleverdon,et al.  Factors determining the performance of indexing systems , 1966 .

[42]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  Physical Prototyping with Smart-its Embedded Ubiquitous Computing Systems , 2022 .

[43]  Michael Gurski,et al.  P3P and Privacy: An update for the Privacy Community , 2004 .

[44]  José Luis Vicedo González,et al.  TREC: Experiment and evaluation in information retrieval , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[45]  Karen Sparck Jones.  Privacy: what's different now? , 2003 .

[46]  Bin Jiang,et al.  Location Based Services and GIS in Perspective , 2007, Location Based Services and TeleCartography.

[47]  Michael B. Eisenberg,et al.  A re-examination of relevance: toward a dynamic, situational definition , 1990, Inf. Process. Manag..

[48]  Yunhao Liu,et al.  LANDMARC: Indoor Location Sensing Using Active RFID , 2004, Proceedings of the First IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications, 2003. (PerCom 2003)..

[49]  Claudia Linnhoff-Popien,et al.  A Context Modeling Survey , 2004 .

[50]  Larry Schroeder,et al.  Understanding Regression Analysis: An Introductory Guide , 2016 .

[51]  Peter Ingwersen,et al.  The Turn - Integration of Information Seeking and Retrieval in Context , 2005, The Kluwer International Series on Information Retrieval.

[52]  Manasawee Kaenampornpan,et al.  An integrated context model: bringing activity to context , 2004 .

[53]  Ingrid Zukerman,et al.  # 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Predictive Statistical Models for User Modeling , 1999 .

[54]  Gregory D. Abowd,et al.  The context toolkit: aiding the development of context-enabled applications , 1999, CHI '99.

[55]  Antti Oulasvirta,et al.  Understanding mobile contexts , 2003, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[56]  Steve Howard,et al.  Evaluating the usability of a mobile guide: The influence of location, participants and resources , 2005, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[57]  Amanda Spink,et al.  An analysis of Web searching by European AlltheWeb.com users , 2005, Inf. Process. Manag..

[58]  Nicholas J. Belkin,et al.  Ask for Information Retrieval: Part I. Background and Theory , 1997, J. Documentation.

[59]  Pattie Maes,et al.  Social information filtering: algorithms for automating “word of mouth” , 1995, CHI '95.

[60]  Theodoros N. Arvanitis,et al.  The What, Who, Where, When, Why and How of Context-Awareness , 2008, ArXiv.

[61]  Lillian N. Cassel,et al.  Client Side Personalization , 2001, DELOS.

[62]  David M. Mountain,et al.  Geographic information retrieval in a mobile environment: evaluating the needs of mobile individuals , 2007, J. Inf. Sci..

[63]  Monika Henzinger,et al.  Analysis of a very large web search engine query log , 1999, SIGF.

[64]  Andreas Butz,et al.  The connected user interface: realizing a personal situated navigation service , 2004, IUI '04.

[65]  Nicholas J. Belkin,et al.  Information filtering and information retrieval: two sides of the same coin? , 1992, CACM.

[66]  Gregory D. Abowd,et al.  Cyberguide: A mobile context‐aware tour guide , 1997, Wirel. Networks.

[67]  Paramvir Bahl,et al.  RADAR: an in-building RF-based user location and tracking system , 2000, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2000. Conference on Computer Communications. Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (Cat. No.00CH37064).

[68]  Russell V Lenth,et al.  Power Analysis for Experimental Research: A Practical Guide For The Biological, Medical and Social Sciences and Statistical Power Analysis: A Simple and General Model for Traditional and Modern Hypothesis Tests , 2004 .

[69]  Barry Smyth,et al.  Information Ordering vs Information Filtering , 2002, ECCBR Workshops.

[70]  A. S. Goker,et al.  AmbieSense - interactive information channels in the surroundings of the mobile user , 2003 .

[71]  Johan Plomp,et al.  An Adaptive Map-Based Interface for Situated Services , 2003 .

[72]  Amanda Spink,et al.  Real life, real users, and real needs: a study and analysis of user queries on the web , 2000, Inf. Process. Manag..

[73]  Barry Smyth,et al.  Case-Based User Profiling for Content Personalisation , 2000, AH.

[74]  Tomonari Kamba,et al.  Learning Personal Preferences on Online Newspaper Articles from User Behaviors , 1997, Comput. Networks.

[75]  Dik Lun Lee,et al.  Document Ranking and the Vector-Space Model , 1997, IEEE Softw..

[76]  B. Weiner,et al.  Necessary versus Sufficient Causal Schemata for Success and Failure. , 1973 .

[77]  Jadwiga Indulska,et al.  Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Advanced Context Modelling, Reasoning and Management , 2004 .

[78]  L. A. McArthur.  The how and what of why: Some determinants and consequences of causal attribution. , 1972 .

[79]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[80]  Robert M. Losee,et al.  Feedback in Information Retrieval. , 1996 .

[81]  Keith Cheverst,et al.  Developing a context-aware electronic tourist guide: some issues and experiences , 2000, CHI.

[82]  Douglas W. Oard,et al.  Implicit Feedback for Recommender Systems , 1998 .

[83]  Katia P. Sycara,et al.  WebMate: a personal agent for browsing and searching , 1998, AGENTS '98.

[84]  Albrecht Schmidt,et al.  There is more to context than location , 1999, Comput. Graph..

[85]  Alfred Kobsa,et al.  Personalised hypermedia presentation techniques for improving online customer relationships , 2001, The Knowledge Engineering Review.

[86]  Tor Erlend Fægri,et al.  AmbieSense - A System and Reference Architecture for Personalised Context-Sensitive Information Services for Mobile Users , 2004, EUSAI.

[87]  Siobhán Clarke,et al.  CASS - Middleware for Mobile Context-Aware Applications , 1990 .

[88]  Christos Faloutsos,et al.  A survey of information retrieval and filtering methods , 1995 .

[89]  John E. Harmon,et al.  The Design and Implementation of Geographic Information Systems , 2003 .

[90]  Stefan Poslad,et al.  Location-based Mobile Tourist Services - First User Experiences , 2003, ENTER.

[91]  Henry Lieberman,et al.  Exploring the Web with reconnaissance agents , 2001, Commun. ACM.

[92]  Fabio Paternò,et al.  Scan and tilt: towards natural interaction for mobile museum guides , 2006, Mobile HCI.

[93]  Kristof Van Laerhoven,et al.  How to build smart appliances? , 2001, IEEE Personal Communications.

[94]  Nicholas J. Belkin,et al.  A case for interaction: a study of interactive information retrieval behavior and effectiveness , 1996, CHI.

[95]  Ralf Bierig,et al.  Time, location and interest: an empirical and user-centred study , 2006, IIiX.

[96]  Jani Mäntyjärvi,et al.  Managing Context Information in Mobile Devices , 2003, IEEE Pervasive Comput..

[97]  Hung Keng Pung,et al.  A middleware for building context-aware mobile services , 2004, 2004 IEEE 59th Vehicular Technology Conference. VTC 2004-Spring (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37514).

[98]  Amanda Spink,et al.  Searching the Web: the public and their queries , 2001 .

[99]  Hari Balakrishnan,et al.  6th ACM/IEEE International Conference on on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM MOBICOM ’00) The Cricket Location-Support System , 2022 .