Chapter 9 – Personalizing information services: Intelligent digital TV at ChangingWorlds

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the case study that covers the emerging information overload problem associated with the digital TV domain—the problem of locating relevant television information as moving towards hundreds and thousands of available TV channels. The information overload problem is synonymous with the Internet and it is increasingly difficult for users to locate the right information at the right time. This problem is exaggerated by the new generation of wireless and handheld Internet devices such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) enabled mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). If desktops or personal computers (PCs) have opened a doorway to the Internet, then the limitations of the current generation of mobile devices (reduced screen size, memory, and bandwidth) can offer only keyhole access to Internet content. Personalization methods may hold the key to solving the information overload problem by customizing the delivery and presentation of relevant information for individual users. Content personalization technologies solve the information overload problem by automatically learning about the information needs of individual users, in order to customize the delivery of the right content to the right user at the right time. PTV is one example of a successful personalized information service, operating in the domain of TV listings, and designed specifically to address the information overload problem in the digital TV space.