Using time and activity in personalization for the mobile user

Abstract

Mobile clients present a new and more demanding breed of users. Solutions provided for the desktop users are often found inadequate to support this new breed of users. Personalization is such a solution. The moving user differs from the desktop user in that his handheld device is truly personal. It roams with the user and allows him access to info and services at any given time from anywhere. As the moving user is not bound to a fixed place and to a given time period, factors such as time and current experience becomes increasingly important for him. His context and preferences are now a function of time and experience and the goal of personalization is to match the local services to this time-depended preferences. In this paper we exploit the importance of time and experience in personalization for the moving user and present a system that anticipates and compensates the time-dependant shifting of user interests. A prototype system is implemented and our initial evaluation results indicate performance improvements over traditional personalization schemes that range up to 173%.