HP Labs India

In the emerging markets such as India there is tremendous excitement about the internet. The value of internet for discovering relevant information, efficient ways of carrying out transactions, entertainment, self expression and communication is compelling for non-tech savvy users. Despite this, the number of active internet users in country such as India is less than 5% compared to 27% for mobile phones.

While initial barriers to internet consumption - connectivity and affordability, are fast disappearing, a significant issue preventing web consumption today is the complexity of web tools. Each website imposes its own interaction metaphor, and user needs to express their intent in different ways across different web sites.

Simplifying Web Access for the Next billion (SWAN) project aims to radically simplify web experiences that will help everyone realize the value of the web. A user’s web interactions need to be encapsulated so that the interaction is personally familiar, uncluttered and accessible with minimal effort. We believe web interaction should become as simple as using a phone, watching TV or reading a magazine or newspaper.

The two research themes of SWAN are:

• Encapsulation, i.e., enabling users to package their personal web interaction patterns and making these work across multiple access environments
• User Intent determination, i.e., understanding what the user wants to achieve

The core technologies used in this research include:

• Machine Learning
• Information Retrieval
• Personalization
• Autonomous agents
• Semantic Web
• Mobility
• Web Mining
• Programming Language Design

Projects that we have done in the past are:

• User Profile Creation and Application
• Information sourcing and matching using user profiles
• Personalized advertising
• Autonomous agents
• Semantic Matching

Publications

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