Adaptive Product Manuals

Abstract

This paper extends the concept of Intelligent Product Manuals (IPMs) which provide just-in-time support to users during the life of the product. The paper advocates the concept of Adaptive Product Manuals (APMs) that generate virtual documents corresponding to the current information needs of users. The key elements of this concept are specification of user information needs, development of a knowledge-based (KB) system with models and algorithms for processing of user requests and generation of active Web pages matching user profiles and information goals.