Adaptive website
Encyclopedia
An Adaptive website is a website
that builds a model of user activity and modifies the information and/or presentation of information to the user in order to better address the user's needs.
from Web server
logs. A model or models are created of user interaction using artificial intelligence
and statistical methods
. The models are used as the basis for tailoring the website for known and specific patterns of user interaction.
) that allow the user to customize the presented content are not adaptive websites as they rely on the user to select rather than the automation of the selection and presentation of the web widget
's that appear on the website.
Collaborative filtering
such as recommender systems, generate and test
methods such as A/B testing
, and machine learning techniques such as clustering
and classification that are used on a website do not make it an adaptive website. They are all tools and techniques that may be used toward engineering an adaptive website.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that builds a model of user activity and modifies the information and/or presentation of information to the user in order to better address the user's needs.
Overview
An adaptive website adjusts the structure, content, or presentation of information in response to measured user interaction with the site, with the objective of optimizing future user interactions. Adaptive websites "are web sites that automatically improve their organization and presentation by learning from their user access patterns.". User interaction patterns may be collected directly on the website or may be minedData mining
Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
from Web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
logs. A model or models are created of user interaction using artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and statistical methods
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
. The models are used as the basis for tailoring the website for known and specific patterns of user interaction.
Techniques
- The collaborative filteringCollaborative filteringCollaborative filtering is the process of filtering for information or patterns using techniques involving collaboration among multiple agents, viewpoints, data sources, etc. Applications of collaborative filtering typically involve very large data sets...
method: Collected user data may be assessed in aggregate (across multiple users) using machine learningMachine learningMachine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
techniques to cluster interaction patterns to user models and classify specific user patterns to such models. The website may then be adapted to target clusters of users. In this approach, the models are explicitly created from historic user information with new users are classified to an existing model and a pre-defined mapping is used for existing content and content organization. - The statistical hypothesis testingStatistical hypothesis testingA statistical hypothesis test is a method of making decisions using data, whether from a controlled experiment or an observational study . In statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone, according to a pre-determined threshold...
method: A/B testingA/B testingA/B testing, split testing or bucket testing is a method of marketing testing by which a baseline control sample is compared to a variety of single-variable test samples in order to improve response rates...
or similar methods are used in conjunction with a library of possible changes to the website or a change-generation method (such as random variation). This results in the automated process website change, impact assessment, and adoption of change. Some examples include genetify for website look and feel, and snap ads for online advertisingOnline advertisingOnline advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
. In this approach (specifically genetify), the model is represented implicitly in the population of possible sites and adapted for all users that visit the site.
Differentiation
User landing pages (such as iGoogleIGoogle
iGoogle , a service of Google, is a customizable Ajax-based startpage or personal web portal . Google originally launched the service in May 2005...
) that allow the user to customize the presented content are not adaptive websites as they rely on the user to select rather than the automation of the selection and presentation of the web widget
Web widget
In computing a web widget is a software widget for the web. It's a small application that can be installed and executed within a web page by an end user. They are derived from the idea of code reuse. Other terms used to describe web widgets include: portlet, gadget, badge, module, webjit, capsule,...
's that appear on the website.
Collaborative filtering
Collaborative filtering
Collaborative filtering is the process of filtering for information or patterns using techniques involving collaboration among multiple agents, viewpoints, data sources, etc. Applications of collaborative filtering typically involve very large data sets...
such as recommender systems, generate and test
Trial and error
Trial and error, or trial by error, is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge."Learning doesn't happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again."...
methods such as A/B testing
A/B testing
A/B testing, split testing or bucket testing is a method of marketing testing by which a baseline control sample is compared to a variety of single-variable test samples in order to improve response rates...
, and machine learning techniques such as clustering
Clustering
Clustering can refer to the following:In demographics:* Clustering , the gathering of various populations based on factors such as ethnicity, economics or religion.In graph theory:...
and classification that are used on a website do not make it an adaptive website. They are all tools and techniques that may be used toward engineering an adaptive website.
External links
- Adaptive Web Sites, puremango.co.uk, June 14, 2009
- genetify: An unobtrusive way to A/B test and optimize webpages