A Tool for Improving Personalization and Information Sharing Using Implicit Groups

In this paper we discuss how the concept of implicit groups is used to build and manage extended user profiles enabling an easier way to supply personalized features and/or information, and guide their dynamic updating. This approach extends the individual user profiles, which are explicitly defined by the user in typical interactive applications and environments, with additional information that reflects the interests, characteristics, and interaction patterns shared among users. Such extended data is implicitly and automatically obtained through the analysis of the user behavior and the corresponding interactions with the system and other users. We developed a tool (TIG) that enables the dynamic discovery and management of new groups based on the generation of extended user profiles in interactive applications or environments. The main goal of the tool is to support the integration of the above concept and its associated functionalities into existing or newly developed interactive applications. We discuss how the tool enables the integration of implicit groups into an existing collaborative environment (Moodle), as a way to provide extended functionalities for sharing information according to the extended user profile. We discuss this extended Moodle functionality and its use in a college campus application to spread information among students and teachers.