An interface agent approach to personalize users' interaction with databases

Abstract

Making queries to a database system through a computer application can become a repetitive and time-consuming task for those users who generally make similar queries to get the information they need to work with. We believe that interface agents could help these users by personalizing the query-making and information retrieval tasks. Interface agents are characterized by their ability to learn users´ interests in a given domain and to help them by making suggestions or by executing tasks on their behalf. Having this purpose in mind we have developed an agent, named QueryGuesser, to assist users of computer applications in which retrieving information from a database is a key task. This agent observes a user´s behavior while he is working with the database and builds the user´s profile. Then, QueryGuesser uses this profile to suggest the execution of queries according to the user´s habits and interests, and to provide the user information relevant to him by making time-demanding queries in advance or by monitoring the events and operations occurring in the database system. In this way, the interaction between database users and databases becomes personalized while it is enhanced.