The Partial Evaluation Approach to Information Personalization

Information personalization refers to the automatic adjustment of information content, structure, and presentation tailored to an individual user. By reducing information overload and customizing information access, personalization systems have emerged as an important segment of the Internet economy. This paper presents a systematic modeling methodology - PIPE (`Personalization is Partial Evaluation') - for personalization. Personalization systems are designed and implemented in PIPE by modeling an information-seeking interaction in a programmatic representation. The representation supports the description of information-seeking activities as partial information and their subsequent realization by partial evaluation, a technique for specializing programs. We describe the modeling methodology at a conceptual level and outline representational choices. We present two application case studies that use PIPE for personalizing web sites and describe how PIPE suggests a novel evaluation criterion for information system designs. Finally, we mention several fundamental implications of adopting the PIPE model for personalization and when it is (and is not) applicable.Comment: Comprehensive overview of the PIPE model for personalizatio

Do Information Privacy Concerns Affect Students’ Feeling of Alienation?

Organizations such as universities collect and use personal data about customers such as students. How do students feel about their university’s practices related to the collection and use of personal data? Using data collected via a survey of 187 students at a large U.S. university, we investigate the effects of these two privacy concerns on students’ feeling of alienation. Implications of the results are discussed in light of ethics, strategy, design, control and administration of personal information management systems

Examining audience perceptions and role of cookies in select news websites in Kenya: a case of nation Africa and the standard

This thesis investigates the audience perceptions and the role of cookies in the user experience of selected news websites in Kenya. In an era dominated by digital media consumption, understanding how users interact with online news platforms is crucial for media practitioners and technology developers. The study focuses on the Kenyan context, exploring the unique dynamics that shape user engagement with news content and the impact of cookies on their online experience. The research employed a mixed-methods approach, combining a quantitative survey focused on audience perceptions of cookies and interactions with cookie consent notices and in-depth interviews with commercial website developers. Through in-depth interviews, the study aims to capture the perspectives of commercial website developers on cookie applications on news websites. Concurrently, the analysis of cookies – small pieces of data stored on users\u27 devices provides insights into the technological mechanisms employed by news websites to enhance user experience, personalize content, and facilitate targeted advertising. Key objectives include understanding how users perceive the credibility and trustworthiness of news websites, assessing the role of personalized content in shaping user engagement and examining the implications of cookie usage on privacy concerns. The research also explores the potential trade-offs between personalized content delivery and user privacy within the Kenyan online news landscape. The findings of this study contribute to the fields of media studies, digital journalism, and user experience design. By shedding light on audience perceptions and the impact of cookies on news consumption in Kenya, this research offers practical insights for media organizations, web developers, and policymakers seeking to enhance the online news experience while respecting user privacy. In conclusion, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of audience perceptions and the role of cookies in selected news websites in Kenya. The research contributes to a nuanced understanding of the evolving dynamics between media consumption, technology, and user privacy in the digital age by bridging the gap between user perspectives and technological practices

Introducing hippocratic log files for personal privacy control

The rapid growth of the Internet has served to intensify existing privacy concerns of the individual, to the point that privacy is the number one concern amongst Internet users today. Tools exist that can provide users with a choice of anonymity or pseudonymity. However, many Web transactions require the release of personally identifying information, thus rendering such tools infeasible in many instances. Since it is then a given that users are often required to release personal information, which could be recorded, it follows that they require a greater degree of control over the information they release. Hippocratic databases, designed by Agrawal, Kiernan, Srikant, and Xu (2002), aim to give users greater control over information stored in a data- base. Their design was inspired by the medical Hippocratic oath, and makes data privacy protection a fundamental responsibility of the database itself. To achieve the privacy of data, Hippocratic databases are governed by 10 key privacy principles. This dissertation argues, that asides from a few challenges, the 10 prin- ciples of Hippocratic databases can be applied to log ¯les. This argument is supported by presenting a high-level functional view of a Hippocratic log file architecture. This architecture focuses on issues that highlight the con- trol users gain over their personal information that is collected in log files. By presenting a layered view of the aforementioned architecture, it was, fur- thermore, possible to provide greater insight into the major processes that would be at work in a Hippocratic log file implementation. An exploratory prototype served to understand and demonstrate certain of the architectural components of Hippocratic log files. This dissertation, thus, makes a contribution to the ideal of providing users with greater control over their personal information, by proposing the use of Hippocratic logfiles

Enhancing the security of electronic commerce transactions

This thesis looks at the security of electronic commerce transaction process- ing. It begins with an introduction to security terminology used in the thesis. Security requirements for card payments via the Internet are then described, as are possible protocols for electronic transaction processing. It appears that currently the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol together with its standardised version Transport Layer Security (TLS) are the most widely used means to se- cure electronic transactions made over the Internet. Therefore, the analysis and discussions presented in the remainder of the thesis are based on the assumption that this protocol provides a `baseline' level of security, against which any novel means of security should be measured. The SSL and TLS protocols are analysed with respect to how well they satisfy the outlined security requirements. As SSL and TLS provide transport layer security, and some of the security requirements are at the application level, it is not surprising that they do not address all the identi¯ed security requirements. As a result, in this thesis, we propose four protocols that can be used to build upon the security features provided by SSL/TLS. The main goal is to design schemes that enhance the security of electronic transaction processing whilst imposing minimal overheads on the involved parties. In each case, a description of the new scheme is given, together with its advantages and limitations. In the ¯rst protocol, we propose a way to use an EMV card to improve the security of online transactions. The second protocol involves the use of the GSM subscriber authentication service to provide user authentication over the Internet. Thirdly, we propose the use of GSM data con¯dentiality service to protect sensitive information as well as to ensure user authentication. Regardless of the protection scheme employed for the transactions, there exist threats to all PCs used to conduct electronic commerce transactions. These residual threats are examined, and motivate the design of the fourth protocol, proposed speci¯cally to address cookie threats