Personalisation and Community 2020: User Modelling and Social Connections in Web Science, Healthcare and Education: Chairs’ Welcome and Workshop Summary

To build a human-centric Web, we need a solid understanding of human connections online and of mechanisms for fostering such connections. People both perceive and respond to digital technologies and form connections with one another in diverse ways. Whether the goal is to improve engagement or to foster community, modelling user groups to personalise or tailor experiences can be key. Tailoring and connection-building are particularly crucial in spaces such as healthcare and education, where evidence clearly shows that perceived social support can facilitate learning and enhance outcomes.

PC’20 is a half-day workshop including two invited speakers, two discussion papers, and a broader discussion session.

The first keynote is from Su White, an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton. She will speak about the facilitation of education online.

The second keynote is from Michael Fergusson, CEO of Ayogo Health Inc. He will speak about “The Architecture of Choice: Using Psychosocial Variables to Dynamically Tailor Interventions.”

A session will highlight two discussion papers. Firstly, Jennifer Golbeck from the University of Maryland will present her work “Improving Emotional Well-Being on Social Media with Collaborative Filtering”. Secondly, Roushdat Elaheebocus, Poovanen Seenan, Sheekah Beharry and Girishsing Caussyram from the University of Mauritius will present their work “BehaviourCoach: A Customisable and Socially-Enhanced Exergaming Application Development Framework”.

Finally, a broader discussion session will consider: tools, techniques and case studies in tailoring and community-building; how these relate to one another; and next steps for Web Science researchers.

The workshop builds on health and education communities established through previous Web Science conference workshops. By using these two domains to ground discussion of user modelling and community, we intend to reinvigorate these communities.

A summary of the workshop will be created and shared online within two weeks of the event.

We thank the members of our program committee: Stéphane Bazan (TomKeen) and Charlie Hargood (University of Bournemouth).