An Ontology-Based Framework for Modeling User Behavior—A Case Study in Knowledge Management

This paper focuses on the role of user modeling and semantically enhanced representations for personalization. This paper presents a generic Ontology-based User Modeling framework (OntobUMf), its components, and its associated user modeling processes. This framework models the behavior of the users and classifies its users according to their behavior. The user ontology is the backbone of OntobUMf and has been designed according to the Information Management System Learning Information Package (IMS LIP). The user ontology includes a Behavior concept that extends IMS LIP specification and defines characteristics of the users interacting with the system. Concrete examples of how OntobUMf is used in the context of a Knowledge Management (KM) System are provided. This paper discusses some of the implications of ontology-based user modeling for semantically enhanced KM and, in particular, for personal KM. The results of this research may contribute to the development of other frameworks for modeling user behavior, other semantically enhanced user modeling frameworks, or other semantically enhanced information systems.