A Personalisable Electronic Book for Video-based Sign Language ...

Internet Explorer, etc.). More generally, an E-book is viewed as an electronic version of a paperback book,
whose digital content may be dynamically generated. This content is made accessible via the Internet, and is
read using an E-book reader, such as a WWW-browser. In the case of KSO, an E-book reader is limited to be
any device that is capable of displaying a WWW-page.
Although there have been many impressive proposals for the development of E-book technologies (Harrison B
L, 2000; Press L, 2000; Ohene-Djan J & Fernandes A A A, 2003). and much research has been conducted into
their deployment (Landoni et al, 2000a) and design (Landoni et al, 2000b; Landoni et al, 2000c; Landoni et al,
2001) a significant limitation of many WWW-based E-books is their inability to address users information needs
on an individual basis. For example, when a user interacts with a paper-based book, they are given the
opportunity not only to read its content in a linear manner, but also to annotate it, insert and delete content, and
to make, in context, cross references to parts of the book and other books. Such functionality is rarely found in
E-books using the WWW and is a further motivating factor for the research reported in this paper. The KSO
homepage is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The KSO Homepage
An Overview of the Goldsmiths Adaptive Hypermedia Model (GAHM)
The Goldsmiths Adaptive Hypermedia Model (GAHM) (Ohene-Djan J, 2000), (Ohene-Djan J & Fernandes A A
A, 2000; Ohene-Djan J 2002; Ohene-Djan J and Fernandes A A A, 2002a) is a formal characterisation of
personalisation and adaptation within hypermedia systems. Its originality lies in its formal specification of
personalisable, adaptive hypermedia, when loosely coupled to user interface and database servers. Induced from
a formal definition of hypermedia specifications, used for the presentation of digital content, is a formal model of
hypermedia personalisation and adaptation.
The model defines a rich set of user initiated personalisation actions, which enable individual users to
personalise how information seeking tasks are performed. This is then extended with additional functionality to
allow for the specification of a user model and decision making algorithm. These additional components allow
for adaptivity to be realised. In GAHM, personalisation is viewed as the process of handing over to the user the
ability to take actions to tailor hyperpages, thereby overriding aspects of a hyperpage’s content and presentation.
Adaptivity is viewed as the process of allowing the system to take the initiative in tailoring actions in the light of
its inference of a user’s information seeking goals and history. In GAHM, adaptivity is, therefore, as expressive
as personalisation, but requires the addition of user modelling and decision making technologies.
Architecture of KSO
Figure 2 depicts the open architecture for hypermedia systems (this, and all subsequent figures use classical
UML notation), upon which KSO has been designed and implemented. This architecture reflects the
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