11. user support


What knowledge is needed to build an adaptive help system? Which do you think is most difficult to provide and why?


It requires at least knowledge of the domain and knowledge of the user. It may also require knowledge of teaching strategies and tasks. Knowledge of the user is usually most difficult to provide, along with knowledge of the task. Even if the user can be monitored, interpreting the user's behaviour in anything other than coarse terms is difficult without access to his thought processes. However, this level of interpretation, and generalization, can be helpful nonetheless (for example, a record of what the user has already done successfully or how often he has used the application). Context can be deduced from the user's current activity. This too can be difficult to determine, however, unless it is a simple case where the tool in use indicates the activity being performed.

Domain knowledge in the general sense is probably the easiest to provide (although it is time consuming to do so). It is available within the system itself or from the designer.

Other exercises in this chapter

ex.11.1 (ans), ex.11.2 (ans), ex.11.3 (ans), ex.11.4 (ans), ex.11.5 (tut), ex.11.6 (tut), ex.11.7 (tut), ex.11.8 (tut), ex.11.9 (tut), ex.11.10 (tut)

all exercises for this chapter