Personalizing web environments on user intrinsic characteristics

Individual differences in information processing, as derived from an approach that takes into account cognitive and emotional parameters, serve as a basis for setting a theoretical framework that addresses user profiling issues in web environments. This paper presents empirical results of two distinct efforts to built and evaluate personalized applications in the field of education and commercial web-sites respectively. In the educational context, this approach is shown to optimize learners´ performance; the case of commercial environments seems more complex and elusive in measuring actual benefits. The theories involved in constructing a comprehensive information processing model are presented, and the adaptation rules and changes within the environment are discussed, in relation to the empirical results that were gathered throughout the development of the proposed model. It is argued that individual differences are nevertheless present during users´ interactions within the information space and that web environments should be adapted on such intrinsic characteristics.