An architecture in support of universal access to electronic commerce
In order to increase accessibility to electronic commerce applications, an overall reduction in the complexity of interactions with computerized systems is required. This paper describes an architecture that uses personalization information to customize interactions with end-users in a way that reduces interaction complexity. The storage and manipulation of personal information under the control of the end-user for the dynamic customization of interactions requires a paradigm shift from the clientserver model of computing to the more general peer-to-peer model. In this paper, the existing three-tier architecture is extended with a new, human-centric layer that is configurable by domain experts who are not necessarily computer science or computer engineering professionals, allowing for a technology pull approach to the configuration of systems. The human-centric layer will support a process-oriented peer-to-peer interaction paradigm and will use existing middleware services for access to network services and legacy systems. This paper focuses on the conceptual model and the functional framework of this new human-centric layer.
universal accessibility electronic commerce personalization peer-to-peer distributed architecture