About “User Modeling 2003”
The International User Modeling Conferences focus on the development of personalization in computer systems. Over the past 15 years, the field has created new theories and methods for analyzing and modeling users during short and long-term interactions. A user model is an explicit representation of user properties, enabling systems to adapt to individual needs and preferences. These methods have been applied in areas such as information filtering, adaptive language and hypermedia presentation, tutoring systems, e-commerce, and medicine. There is increasing attention on evaluating user modeling methods through empirical studies. New trends in human-computer interaction bring new challenges, and the field now addresses personalized interaction in mobile and ubiquitous computing, as well as adaptation to user attitudes and emotions. As user modeling becomes more widespread, concerns about privacy are also growing. These topics are discussed in the proceedings of UM 2003, the 9th International Conference on User Modeling.