Adaptive Web-based Textbooks

Hypermedia systems have enabled authors to break free from the linear presentation structure enforced by the world of physical (paper) books. The Web has further enabled authors to bring hypermedia documents on-line, so that they can reach a much wider audience. As a consequence, documents also reach an audience with widely varying interests, background, (hypermedia) experience, etc. In order to provide the most appropriate information to all users, and present it in the most suitable way, documents must be adapted to target user groups or even individual users. Adaptive hypermedia provides the methods and techniques to perform this adaptation automatically (instead of purely based on a questionnaire to be completed by every user).