Abstract
Nowadays, a large use of personalization techniques is used to adapt Web content to users’ habits, mainly with the aim of offering appropriate products and services. This paper presents a system that uses personalization and adaptation techniques, in order to transcode or modify contents (e.g., adapt text fonts) so as to meet preferences and needs of elderly users and users with disabilities. Such an adaptation can have a positive effect, in particular for users with some reading-related disabilities (i.e., people with dyslexia, users with low vision, users with color blindness, elderly people.). To avoid issues arising from applying transformations to the whole content, the proposed system uses Web intelligence to perform automatic adaptations on single elements composing a Web page. The transformation is applied on the basis of a reinforcement learning algorithm which manages a user profile. The system is evaluated through simulations and a real assessment, where elderly users where asked to use the system prototype for a time period and to perform some specific tasks. Results of the qualitative evaluation confirm the feasibility of the proposal, showing its validity and the users’ appreciation.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig2_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig3_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig4_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig5_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig6_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig7_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig8_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig9_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig10_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig11_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig12_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig13_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig14_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig15_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig16_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig17_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig18_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig19_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig20_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10209-016-0463-2/MediaObjects/10209_2016_463_Fig21_HTML.gif)
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Ferretti, S., Mirri, S., Prandi, C., Salomoni, P.: Exploiting reinforcement learning to profile users and personalize web pages. In: Proceedings of the 1st IEEE International Workshop on User Centered Design and Adaptive Systems (UCDAS 2014)—The 38th Annual International Computers, Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2014). IEEE Communications Society, USA (2014). doi:10.1109/COMPSACW.2014.45
Wecel, K., Kaczmarek, T., Filipowska, A.: Scalable adaptation of Web applications to users’ behavior. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence: Technologies and Applications (ICCCI’12). Springer, Berlin (2012). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-34707-8_9
Wolff, D., Schaaf, M., Grivas, S., Leimstoll, U.: Context-aware website personalization. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems (KES 2011), Ser. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer, Berlin (2011). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23863-5_6
Beymer, D., Russell, D.M., Orton, P.Z.: An eye tracking study of how font size, font type, and pictures influence online reading. In: Proceedings of the 22nd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Culture, Creativity, Interaction (BCS-HCI’08) (2008)
Legge, G.: Psychophysics of Reading. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah (2006)
Tinker, M.A.: The Legibility of Print. Iowa State University Press, Iowa (1963)
Bernard, M., Liao, C.H., Mills, M.: The effects of font type and size on the legibility and reading time of online text by older adults. In: Proceedings of the ACM/SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2001). ACM Press, New York (2001). doi:10.1145/634067.634173
Rello, L., Kanvinde, G., Baeza-Yates, R.: Layout guidelines for web text and a web Service to improve accessibility for dyslexics. In: Proceedings of the 9th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’12), ACM Press, New York (2012). doi: 10.1145/2207016.2207048
Russell-Minda, E., Jutai, J.W., Graham Strong, J., Campbell, K.A., Gold, D., Pretty, L., Wilmot, L.: The legibility of typefaces for readers with low vision: a research review. J. Vis. Impair. Blind. 101(7), 402–415 (2007)
Mirri, S., Prandi, C., Salomoni, P.: Experiential adaptation to provide user-centered Web content personalization. In: Proceedings of IARIA Conference on Advances in Human oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC2013) (2013)
Ferretti, S., Mirri, S., Prandi, C., Salomoni, P.: User centered and context dependent personalization through experiential transcoding. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking (CCNC 2014), Workshop on Networking Issues in Multimedia Entertainment (NIME’14), IEEE Computer Society, USA (2014). doi:10.1109/CCNC.2014.6940520
Piqle, Platform for implementing Q-Learning experiments. http://piqle.sourceforge.net/. Accessed 31 July 2015
Schildbach, B., Rukzio, E.: Investigating selection and reading performance on a mobile phone while walking. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI’10), ACM Press, New York (2010). doi:10.1145/1851600.1851619
Biswas, P., Langdon, P.: Investigating the accessibility of program selection menus of a digital TV interface. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCII2011). Springer, Berlin (2011). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-21619-0_52
Pous, M., Serra-Vallmitjana, C., Giménez, R., Torrent-Moreno, M., Boix, D.: Enhancing accessibility: mobile to ATM case study. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC2012), IEEE Computer Society Press, New York (2012). doi:10.1109/CCNC.2012.6181024
Henry, S.L.: Developing text customisation functionality requirements of PDF reader and other user agents. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP 2012), Springer, Berlin (2012). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31522-0_91
Watanabe, W.M., Candido, A., Amâncio, M.A., de Oliveira, M., Pardo, T.A.S., Fortes, R.P.M., Aluísio, S.M.: Adapting web content for low-literacy readers by using lexical elaboration and named entities labeling. In: Proceedings of the 7th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’10), ACM Press, New York (2010). doi:10.1145/1805986.1805998
Rello, L., Baeza-Yates, R., Saggion, H., Bott, S., Carlini, R., Bayarri, C., Gorriz, A., Gupta, G., Kanvinde, G., Topac, V.: Dyswebxia 2.0! Accessible text for people with dyslexia. In: Proceedings of the 10th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’13), ACM Press, New York (2013). doi:10.1145/2461121.2461150
Gajos, K.Z., Weld, D.S., Wobbrock, J.O.: Automatically generating personalized user interfaces with supple. Artif. Intell. (2010). doi:10.1016/j.artint.2010.05.005
Santhanam, G.R., Basu, S., Honavar, V.: Preference based service adaptation using service substitution. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Web Intelligence (WI 2013), IEEE Computer Society, USA (2013). doi:10.1109/WI-IAT.2013.68
Koidl, K., Conlan, O., Wade, V.: Towards cross site personalisation. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Web Intelligence (WI 2013), IEEE Computer Society, USA (2013). doi:10.1109/WI-IAT.2013.76
Bursa, O., Can, Ö., Ünalir, M.O.: User profiling for policy management in social communities. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Signature Conference on Computers, Software, and Applications (COMPSAC 2012). IEEE Computer Society, USA (2012). doi:10.1109/COMPSAC.2012.49
Loeb, S.: Fluid user models for personalized mobile apps. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC 2013). IEEE Computer Society, USA (2013). doi:10.1109/CCNC.2013.6488530
Brown, A., Jay, C., Harper, S.: Audio access to calendars. In: Proceedings of the 7th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’10), ACM Press, New York (2010). doi:10.1145/1805986.1806028
Yesilada, Y., Harper, S., Eraslan, S.: Experiential transcoding: an eye tracking approach. In: Proceedings of the 10th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’13), ACM Press, New York (2013). doi:10.1145/2461121.2461134
Swapna Raj, P., Ravindran, B.: Personalized web-page rendering system. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Management of Data (COMAD 2008), pp. 30–39 (2008). doi:10.1.1.143.5393. ISBN: 978-81-8424-370-3
Ren, Y., Li, G., Zhou, W.: Learning user preference patterns for Top-N recommendations. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Web Intelligence (WI 2012), IEEE Computer Society, New York (2012). doi:10.1109/WI-IAT.2012.102
Junges, R., Klügl, F.: Programming agent behavior by learning in simulation models. Appl. Artif. Intell. (2012). doi:10.1080/08839514.2012.652906
Ferretti, F., Roccetti, M., Salomoni, P., Mirri, S.: Custom e-learning experiences: working with profiles for multiple content sources access and adaptation. J. Access. Serv. (2009). doi:10.1080/15367960802301093
Salomoni, P., Mirri, S., Ferretti, S., Roccetti, M.: Profiling learners with special needs for custom e-learning experiences, a closed case? In: Proceedings of the 4th ACM International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A’07), ACM Press, New York (2007). doi:10.1145/1243441.1243462
WURFL. Wireless Universal Resource File Library. http://wurfl.sourceforge.net. Accessed 31 July 2015
Watkins, C.J.C.H.: Learning from Delayed Rewards. Ph.D. thesis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1989)
Watkins, C.J.C.H., Dayan, P.: Q-learning. Mach. Learn. 8(3), 279-292 (1992)
Asakawa, C., Takagi, H.: Transcoding. In: Harper, Simon., Yesilada, Yeliz. (eds.) Web Accessibility: A Foundation for Research, Human–Computer Interaction Series, pp. 231–260. Springer, Berlin (2008)
Mozilla Firefox Add-on Builder and SDK (2014) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/. Accessed 31 July 2015
Alexa Internet, Alexa Top 500 Global Sites: (2015). http://www.alexa.com/topsites. Accessed 31 July 2015
Nielsen, J., Landauer, T.K.: A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems. In: Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’93). ACM Press, New York (1993). doi:10.1145/169059.169166
Nielsen, J.: Why you only need to test with 5 users. (2000). http://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/ (on March 19, 2000). Accessed 31 Jul 2015
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Alberto Fariselli and Michele Lambertini for their precious support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ferretti, S., Mirri, S., Prandi, C. et al. On personalizing Web content through reinforcement learning. Univ Access Inf Soc 16, 395–410 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-016-0463-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-016-0463-2