Subject: Workshop on ML for UM
From: Mathias Bauer <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 15:45:30 +0100 (MET)

My apologies if you receive this more than once.

                
          Workshop "Machine Learning for User Modeling"

                  to be held in conjunction with
 
         Sixth International Conference on User Modeling
               Chia Laguna, Sardinia, 2-5 June 1997

             http://www.dfki.uni-sb.de/~bauer/um-ws

Call for Participation
----------------------

The  information  about  the  user  that  is  available   to   an
interactive  computer  system  is  usually  limited, so that user
model acquisition is a difficult problem.  Classical  acquisition
methods  like  user  interviews, application-specific heuristics,
and stereotypical inferences often are not flexible enough.

Machine Learning is concerned with the formation of  models  from
observations.  Hence,  learning  algorithms  seem to be promising
candidates for user model acquisition systems.  There  have  been
few  uses  of  conventional  machine learning in the area of user
modeling, while in the related area of interface agents, learning
has been much more popular. Recently, however, a growing interest
in the  application  of  machine  learning  techniques  for  user
modeling purposes has been apparent.

The goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers who are
interested   in  employing  machine  learning  methods  for  user
modeling and individualized  human-computer  interaction.  Papers
tackling  theoretical  issues  but  grounded  with  reference  to
practical applications of machine learning in user modeling,  are
particularly encouraged.

Topics of Interest
------------------

The following  are key questions that participants are encouraged 
to address:

* What learning tasks can be identified in user modeling systems?
* Are there classes of problems in user modeling that are partic-
  ularly  well  or  poorly  suited  to the application of machine 
  learning methods?
* Are there machine learning algorithms or  classes of algorithms 
  that  are  particularly  appropriate / not appropriate for user 
  modeling systems?
* Are there subareas of user modeling or classes of user modeling 
  systems where machine learning can be especially useful?
* In what respects does the induction of a user model differ from 
  other  induction  tasks to which  machine learning is typically 
  applied,  and  what implications does this have for the applic-
  ation of machine learning in user modeling?
* In  the case of the description of a concrete application:  Why 
  did you choose this particular machine learning technique?  How 
  did it affect the success of  your a pplication?  What  general 
  conclusions can you draw from your experiences?

Deadlines
---------

* April 18 - deadline for submissions
* May 2    - notification of authors about acceptance
* May 16   - deadline for submission of final versions of accepted 
             papers

Submission details
------------------

Submissions are invited that describe aspects  of  the  usage  of
machine  learning  techniques  for  user  modeling  and take into
account all or some of the topics listed above. The paper  length
is  restricted  to  at  most  6  pages  in a 12pt font. The email
address for electronic submission  of  PostScript  versions  (the
preferred way of submission) is

[email-masked]

If  you  have to submit a hard copy, please send 4 copies of your 
paper to

Mathias Bauer
DFKI
Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3
D - 66123 Saarbruecken
Germany

Workshop Proceedings
--------------------

All accepted papers will be  made  available  on  this  web  site
before  the  workshop  and  as  a  joint  research  report of the
institutes with which the organizers are affiliated.

In addition we would like to make these papers and a  summary  of
the  workshop discussions available as online proceedings. Please
try to assure that you will be able to provide an HTML version of
your  final  paper.  Alternatively the PostScript version of your
paper will be included

Organizers
----------

* Mathias Bauer, DFKI, Germany ([email-masked])
* Wolfgang Pohl, GMD, Germany ([email-masked])
* Geoff Webb, Deakin University, Australia ([email-masked])

Important Note on Early Registration
------------------------------------

The notification date for this workshop is later than  the  early
registration  deadline of 4 April 1997. If your attendance at the
conference  depends  on  whether  your  workshop  submission   is
accepted,  you  need  not  register  by  that  deadline:  If your
workshop submission is accepted, you will be allowed to  register
for   the   lower   early  registration  fee  (as  long  as  your
registration is received within 1 week of the acceptance of  your
submission).