User-centered push for timely information delivery

Abstract

We propose a new model for push technology that focuses on a dynamic user rather than on a dynamic world. In standard models of push, a central service delivers information to a user when information in the world changes, and the type of information delivered depends on general categories of interest often set directly by the user. Under this model, the world is considered to be changing constantly, while the user is considered relatively static. By contrast, our User-Centered Push (UCP) approach tracks user activity to determine when the user's interest changes. Because UCP bases a user's information needs on a dynamic model of user interests, it has a good chance of delivering information to the user that is both timely and relevant. We describe a general architecture for User-Centered Push, and provide details of an example implementation. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.