Abstract
User modeling means acquiring, representing and managing assumptions about users of software systems. Inference processes as part of the representation component can be used to extend the base of assumptions, thus supporting the acquisition task. In the user modeling shell system BGP-MS, a partition approach to user model representation and reasoning has been taken. It offers the possibility to maintain different types of assumptions about the user in a partition hierarchy; reasoning about the assumptions of one type is possible. In addition, useful inferences are already built into the partition mechanism of BGP-MS. However, negative assumptions about what users do not know or want, or relationships between assumption types cannot be maintained in BGP-MS. Since such user modeling knowledge can be formulated with modal logic, a method was developed that combines techniques of reasoning with modal logic and the partition mechanism. Algorithms for translating modal expressions into first-order logic are employed. Thus, new representation and reasoning facilities were implemented into BGP-MS. One of the main qualities of the combination method is that the advantages of the partition approach are preserved.
This research has been supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG) under Grant No. Ko 1044/4. Thanks to Alfred Kobsa and Jörg Schreck for valuable contributions.
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Pohl, W. (1996). Combining partitions and modal logic for user modeling. In: Gabbay, D.M., Ohlbach, H.J. (eds) Practical Reasoning. FAPR 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1085. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61313-7_95
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61313-7_95
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