This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project submitted by KidSource OnLine, Inc will develop a new version of PersonalNews that includes a new adaptive feedback mechanism incorporating the user's explicit and evolving preferences. The research will focus on designing the prototype and user-testing the new functions. The results from this testing will be used to develop a specification for the next phase incorporating scalability and performance requirements. The approach will be to build upon the success of a prototype of a personalized information agent called KidSource OnLine PersonalNews. PersonalNews delivers a web page of prioritized content for parents based upon detailed user preferences and demographics. Creating a new attribute will add the style of information (voice and audience) into the user preference model. These features will result in a more human-centric design that incorporates a wider range of user capabilities and will produce results that are more accurate, relevant and more reflective of the user's total needs than can any existing technology. This technology is applicable not only to the parenting market, but also to many other market segments and can be used to proactively deliver personalized information to disadvantaged groups in order to improve their health and education.
