Adaptability and Adaptivity

computer system's "User friendliness" has always been a key issue with Users who generally want to access relevant information easily. In order to significantly enhance computer interaction for many different types of user AVANTI will employ two novel techniques Adaptability and Adaptivity.

Traditional WEB access uses a Browser and a terminal e.g. a PC, comprising the user interface. The information the user receives is stored in WEB or hypermedia pages which once written remain static pieces of information.

In AVANTI, Adaptability techniques will allow immediate modification of the user interface at the start of each usage session so that it accords with a new users characteristics, their requirements and preferences (for example user abilities, computer expertise, and natural language). If it is your own system you probably would set it up once to suit your particular needs. However if another very different person were to use it or if it was a public info terminal it would need to be 'told' your typical requirements e.g by a SMART card or a password. If you are a disabled user it is likely you would prefer further adaptation of the system to suit your needs for example to specify special devices like Switches, a Braille display or a text to speech synthesizer to enhance the interaction. Adaptability will provide these mechanisms however it does assume that your requirements will remain unchanged while the system is being used.

Adaptivity on the other hand refers to the changes which the system will perform to try to accommodate the user's interface requirements dynamically while you are using the computer. For example the user may be a novice to the system and it must detect this and change the way it behanes to best help the user get through a set of unknown tasks. AVANTI will use Adaptivity to modify hypermedia page information content, information modality, information prominence, orientation and even the navigation aids, search facilities, and links to other hypermedia pages. Therefore a WEB page will not necessarily appear the same from one user to another and information will be tailored to suit the particular users needs. This feature provides a wide range of opportunities to improve the way information is delivered.