Paul P. Maglio
IBM Almaden Research Center

Attentive User Interfaces

    Attentive systems pay attention to what users do so they can attend to what users need. Such systems track user behavior, model user interests, and anticipate user desires and actions. Because the general class of attentive systems is broad -- ranging from human butlers to web sites that profile users -- my focus has generally been on attentive information systems, which observe user actions with information resources, model user information states, and suggest information that might be helpful to users. In attempting to create such systems, I have investigated ways in which people understand and interact with information. In this talk, I will survey some recent projects aimed at (1) understanding how people conceptualize information spaces, such as the World Wide Web; (2) determining appropriate methods for displaying peripheral information; and (3) exploring users' mental models of verbal interaction with information displays.