Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

Unit 4
The Internet
Web personalization

With the explosive growth of the Internet and the easy availability of information
on the Web, we have entered a new information age. Today, the Web provides a new
medium for communication, by changing the traditional way of gathering, presenting,
sharing and using the information. In the era of the Web, the problem of information
5 overload is continuously expanding. When browsing the Web, users are very often
overwhelmed by a huge amount of information available online. Indeed, the ever more
complex structure of sites combined with the heterogeneous nature of the Web, and the
data, which are characterized by uncertainty and are fuzzy in nature, make Web
navigation difficult for ordinary users, who often are faced with the challenging problem
10 of finding the desired information in due time. An important step in the direction of
alleviating the problem of information overload is represented by Web personalization.
Web personalization can be simply defined as the task of adapting the information
or services provided by a Website to the needs and interests of users, exploiting the
knowledge gained from the users navigational behaviour and individual interests, in
15 combination with the content and structure of the Website. The actions performed
through Web personalization can range from simply making the presentation more
pleasing to anticipating the needs of a user and providing customized and relevant
information. The need to offer personalized services prompted the development of new
intelligent systems able to collect knowledge about the interests of users and adapt its
20 services in order to meet the users needs.
Web personalization is a fundamental task in an increasing number of application
domains such as e-commerce, e-business, information retrieval. In e-commerce, for
example, personalization can offer the useful function of suggesting interesting products
or advertising on the basis of the interests of online customers. This function is generally
25 achieved through recommendation systems that represent one of the most popular
approaches to Web personalization.
Many research efforts have focused on the investigation of new techniques for the
development of systems endowed with personalization functionalities. This has led to the
growth of a new flourishing research area, known as Web Intelligence (WI), which uses
30 the principles of Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology in the Web domain.
Web personalization represents a particular data mining application with the goal of
acquiring all possible information about users accessing the website in order to deliver
them personalized functionalities. The main steps of a Web personalization are: Web data
collection, Web data pre-processing, pattern discovery and personalization.
35 There are four basic classes of personalization functions, namely, memorization,
guidance, customization and task performance support.
Memorization represents the simplest and the most widespread class of
personalization functions. In this form of personalization, the system records in its
memory information about users accessing the Website (e.g. using cookies), such as the
40 name, the browsing history and so on. Then, this information is used by the

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 Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

personalization system as a reminder of the users past behaviour. Examples of

personalization functions are: user salutation, bookmarking or personalized access rights.
Guidance represents the class of personalization functions consisting in the ability
of a Website to assist users by quickly providing them with the relevant information
45 according to their interests or suggesting them alternative browsing options. Examples of
guidance functions are: recommendation of hyperlinks or user tutoring.
In customization, the system takes as input the user preferences and exploits these
to customize the content or the structure of a Web page. The major goal of this
personalization function is the efficient management of the information load by
50 alleviating and facilitating the user interactions with the site. Examples of this class of
personalization functions are: personalized layout, content customization, customization
of hyperlinks, personalized pricing scheme, personalized product differentiation.
Task performance support represents the most advanced personalization function.
In these systems, a personal assistant executes actions on behalf of the user in order to
55 facilitate the access to relevant information. This approach requires the involvement of
the users, including access, installation and maintenance of the personal assistant
software. Examples of personalization functions included in this class are: personalized
errands (sending an e-mail, downloading various items etc.), personalized query
completion, personalized negotiations (it requires a high degree of sophistication in order
60 to earn the trust of the user).
To sum up, a Web personalization system can be developed to offer a variety of
personalization functions, making the Web a friendlier environment for its individual
users and, hence, creating trustworthy relationships between a Website and its visitors.
(Adapted from Castellano, G. et al. (2009), Web Personalization in Intelligent
65 Environments, Springer, pp. 13 14)

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Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

I.
a) Give synonyms for the following words from the text:

availability (l. 1); medium (l. 3); gathering (l. 3); overwhelmed (l. 6); indeed (l. 6);
alleviate (l. 11); adapt (l. 12); prompt (l. 18); useful (l. 23); achieve (l. 25); hence (l. 63);
trustworthy (l. 63)

b) What do the following abbreviations stand for?

SMTP; POP; IMAP; UTP; FTP; DSL; NIC; NFS; SSL; DNS; TCP; URL

II. Match the words from the left with their definition from the right:

1. XML A. a means of maintaining network security

2. ISP B. a protocol developed by Netscape for
transmitting private documents via the Internet
3. socket C. extensible mark-up language
4. password D. a node on a network that serves as an entrance to
another network
5. switch E. a software object, not a physical component; in
UNIX and some other operating systems, a software
object that connects an application to as network
protocol
6. hub distortion of data due to external factors such as
climatic conditions
7. network protocol a device which may connect more than two
computers and even to local area networks
8. SSL Internet Service Provider
9. interference a device that filters and forwards packets between
LAN segments

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10. gateway a means of determining how computers become part

of a network and how they are recognised

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What is a cookie?
2. What is downloading?
3. What is MIME?
4. What is IRC protocol?
5. What is URL?

IV. Fill in the blanks of the following text about Linux:

Internet Security

How 1) is the Internet and what is computer security? A transaction takes

2) through the Internet by bouncing the information through 3)
computers before it reaches, for example, the banks computer. This is 4)
computer security comes 5) . When you connect 6) your bank to make a
transaction, you are often 7) to send your account number or user 8) as
well as a PIN or password for verification. This information should only be 9)
after establishing a secure connection. If you are using an Internet 10) you will
see a small closed lock appear in the window of the browser. Once you are connected to a
secure 11) , any piece of information you send or receive is encrypted using a
mathematical 12) and then reassembled or decrypted at the other end. The
transaction often involves the exchange of a small file that 13) track of the
transaction and can act as a 14) when you next visit that website. These small
files are called 15) and are set by the website you are visiting.

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VI. Translate the following three excerpts into English:

a) Internetul este o reea care interconecteaz calculatorul din ntreaga lume, fcnd
posibil schimbul de informaii de orice tip ntre oricare dou calculatoare din aceast
reea. Protocolul de comunicare n aceast reea se numete IP i asigur transmiterea de
datagrame ntre oricare dou puncte ale reelei.
Fiecare calculator care particip la Internet are un identificator unic (un numr pe
32 de bii) prin care el poate fi referit de ctre alt calculator din Internet. Un calculator
poate avea mai multe adrese IP, dar un calculator fr IP nu poate comunica n Internet.
Situaia tipic de legtur permanent la Internet este fcut printr-o conexiune
ethernet pn la un router legat la rndul su la Internet. Legtura ethernet se poate
realiza prin mai multe tipuri de cabluri, cel mai folosit fiind ns cablul UTP.
Cablul UTP conine patru perechi de fire de cupru izolate i torsadate, prinse ntr-
un nveli izolator. Cablurile UTP se termin cu mufe ce trebuie s cuprind opt fire.
Cablul se prinde n mufe prin sertizare cu un clete special care nfige lamele metalice
ale mufei prin nveliul izolator fiecrui fir.
De obicei, lng calculator exist o priz UTP care este legat la un concentrator.
Conectarea const n legarea unui cablu UTP direct ntre priza UTP i placa de reea
ethernet din calculator.

b) Sistemul de nume folosit pentru adresare n Internet se numete DNS i este organizat
pe domenii. Adresa numeric ce corespunde unui nume se gsete cu ajutorul unui
serviciu de informaii care pstreaz corespondena nume adres numeric.
Domeniile originale de nivel nalt sunt urmtoarele: com (organizaii comerciale),
edu (organizaii educaionale), gov (organizaii guvernamentale), mil (organizaii
militare), org (alte organizaii), net (resurse de reea).

c) Pentru a nelege cum funcioneaz Web-ul, trebuie nelese conceptele de hypertext i

hypermedia.
Hypertextul se refer la documentele digitale care permit cititorului s se mite
dintr-un loc n altul fr s fie obligat s parcurg informaia trecnd prin fiecare pagin

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Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

i capitol, cum se ntmpl n cazul citirii unei cri. Hypertext este o metod de realizare
a unui text care permite cititorului s parcurg documentul n maniera dorit de acesta.
Pentru a realiza un hypertext, mai nti mprii informaiile n uniti mici, manevrabile,
cum ar fi paginile individuale de text. Aceste uniti se numesc noduri. n pagina
principal se includ n text hyperlegturile numite i ancore. Cnd cititorul execut clic pe
o hyperlegtur, programul de hypertext afieaz nodul corespunztor legturii. Procesul
de navigare printre nodurile legate n acest fel se numete rsfoire.
Hypermedia d via documentelor i, n acelai timp, calculatorului prin
intermediul cruia se navigheaz, implicnd legtura spre grafic, sunet i video.
(excerpts adapted from Soluia LINUX de conectare la Internet, lecture, the University of
Bucharest, The Faculty of Mathematics)

VII. The best aspect of the Internet has nothing to do with technology. Its
us. Getting in touch is more fun than the coolest computer or the hottest
information. Write a 200-word essay saying whether you agree or disagree
with the statement above.

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Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

GRAMMAR SPOTLIGHT
Prepositions

EXERCISES

I. Fill in the blanks with the suitable prepositions:

to apply on behalf closer inspection
to approve in charge with reference
qualified display of work
to notify condition in accordance
regardless to look forward advance

II. Which preposition follows each of the words below? Write the words in
the correct column:

associated, appropriate, sustainability, coincide, triggered, collated, identical,

status, fundamental, implication, preceded, interact, compensation,
motivated, justification, intrinsic

by of to with for

III. Fill in with the correct preposition:

1. The document you sent yesterday was full mistakes.
2. Bill Gates is famous founding Microsoft, the worlds largest PC software
company.

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Cocu Iulia Veronica Unit 4 The Internet

3. Mike isnt very keen programming.

4. You can find a lot of useful and interesting information the Internet.
5. Stop talking and concentrate your work!
6. Im fed up waiting my new laptop to be delivered.
7. I am extremely interested neural networks and my graduation paper will
definitely focus this subject.
8. John is good computational analysis.
9. Pete is satisfied his job as project manager.
10. He thinks beginning a career in computer science.