Abstract. The paper reviews the development of generic user modeling systems over the past twenty years. It describes their purposes, their services within user-adaptive systems, and the different design requirements for research prototypes and commercially deployed servers. It discusses the architectures that have been explored so far, namely shell systems that form part of the application, central server systems that communicate with several applications, and possible future user modeling agents that physically follow the user. Several implemented research prototypes and commercial systems are brie£y described.
A detailed review of the development of user modeling systems is given in REF .
Generic User Modeling Systems
User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction
User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction
Computer Science