A core element of an adaptive hypertext systems is the user model. This paper describes Personis, a user model server. We describe the architecture, design and implementation. We also describe the way that it is intended to operate in conjunction with the rest of an adaptive hypertext system.
A distinctive aspect of the Personis user model server follows from our concern for making adaptive systems scrutable: these enable users to see the details of the information held about them, the processes used to gather it and the way that it is used to personalise an adaptive hypertext.
We describe how the architecture supports this.
The paper describes our evaluations of the current server. These indicate that the approach and implementation provide a workable server for small to medium sized user collections of information needed to adapt the hypertext.