Agent-based web browsing

Abstract

Internet and the WWW have brought forward a rich but poorly tapped base of information. Web-agents, robots, search engines and other techniques attempt to reorganize information in a way which is profitable to the information society. However these techniques do not always match the user's browsing environment. This project aims to explore an agent-oriented setup for delivering information to users with specific browser environments. The project will tackle three areas. The first area will cover and extend existing mechanisms for presenting WWW-based information to users in a structured but customisable manner, including parameters for presenting individual information elements within a web site. The second area involves the use of web agents and how existing agent technology can be tailored to monitor and deliver information in a properly versioned and timely manner. The third stage will analyse the possibility of delivering agent-sourced information to environments tailored for mobile devices, such as phones which support the Wireless Application Protocol.