Preface to the special issue on user modeling to support groups, communities and collaboration

Technology should support and enhanceour ability towork, learn, andmakedecisions. These activities naturally involve collaboration and communication, yet the personal computers we use to carry them out are traditionally individualized. This special issue addresses the design and extension of adaptive individual user technology to support complex collaborative processes involving information sharing, communication, and collaborative group work. Recent integration efforts have successfully combined collaborative and communication services with multi-user tools to create environments that enable individuals to communicate and share information. Examples of such environments include computer-supported collaborative workspaces, distributed learning management systems, online communities of interest, and peer-to-peer systems. While these environments enable collaboration, they provide no guarantee that timely productive collaboration occurs and proceeds effectively. Such assurance requires more substantial effort in understanding how the collaboration process is shaped by the individuals’ characteristics, behaviors, and relationships, and how to support their dynamic interaction. Models of groups, collaboration, and communities collect and structure the