PRAGMATIC USER MODEL IMPLEMENTATION IN AN INTELLIGENT HELP SYSTEM

We present an intelligent help system for the Unix operating system ca lled Aran, Aran is a passive, knowledge-based help system whose main g oal is to help users deal with problems related to Unix operation, Ara n gives the user access to different kinds of information, and it is d esigned to help the user accomplish a given task, while, at the same t ime, expanding the user's knowledge of the operating system, In order to accomplish its job Aran is endowed with an explicit representation of both domain specific knowledge and a pragmatic user model (UM) that takes into account the individual's characteristics. In Aran, user mo delling is dynamic and based on stereotypes. The UM is implemented wit h the same representation environment, Loom, used in the rest of the k nowledge base (KB) modules, This environment is based on a description logics formalism that facilitates the construction and maintenance of all the modules.