NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Intelligent Agents (was: WB '97#9: Sex in High School)
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Intelligent Agents (was: WB '97#9: Sex in High School)
Russell I. Rothstein (rir_at_crasparc.cra.com)
Fri, 20 Jun 1997 14:38:20 -0400
David,
You're not alone in your misunderstanding of what agents really are,
especially given all of the hype and fanfare that surrounds the technology.
In fact, there are nine different types of Internet agents, (which don't
include desktop and intranet agents,) of which we all use some on a daily
basis:
1. Web search agents that employ robots that traverse the World Wide Web
hyperspace on behalf of the users to provide search services (e.g. Lycos,
Alta Vista)
2. Information filtering agents that filter the information on the Internet
according to the personal interests of the user (e.g. NewsPage, ZDNet
Personal View)
3. Off-line delivery agents that deliver a personalized package of on-line
information to a user desktop according to user preferences (e.g.
Pointcast, Backweb)
4. Learning agents that *unobtrusively* learn the interests of users from
their behavior at a site in order to provide personalized content and
targeted ads (e.g. Open Sesame)
5. Collaborative filtering agents that require users to rank products in
order to get personal recommendations (e.g. LikeMinds, Digital
Each-to-Each, Firefly, others)
6. Notification agents that inform a user of events of personal
significance to a user (e.g. NetBuddy, URLMinder)
7. Service agents that act as an information broker by matching the
attributes of context providers against the interests of their service
members (e.g. AdHound, BargainFinder)
8. Web site agents such as avatars, MUD Agents that serve as an electronic
host to visitors of a Web site (e.g. Microsoft Agent)
9. Mobile agents that travel from one Internet server to another to execute
user specified tasks (e.g. General Magic)
This taxonomy of agent technology comes from the topflight book "Agent
Sourcebook" (John Wiley & Sons, June 1997) co-authored by Alper Caglayan,
President of Open Sesame. While the book is still on pre-order at Amazon
and B&N.com, you can visit the newly launched Agent Sourcebook companion
site at http://www.opensesame.com/agents/
The site includes book excerpts, author interviews, agent FAQs, and
discussion forums on cutting-edge agent technology issues including
privacy, OPS, and personalization.
You can also hear Alper lead a panel on agents at both Summer Internet
World (Chicago) and Comdex (Toronto) next month.
-- Russell
....................................
Russell I. Rothstein
Director of Marketing and Operations
Open Sesame
.....................
p: 617.491.3474 x522
e: rir_at_opensesame.com
...................................................
>
>Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 12:58:59 -0500 (CDT)
>To: online-ads_at_o-a.com
>From: david hyman <davidh_at_addict.com>
>Subject: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> WB '97#9: Sex in High School
>
>I've always felt that agents are best suited for sites that cover broad
>demographics. i.e search engines.
>
>the nature of the web is narrowcasting. most sites seems to convey
>information to a specific target demographic. When Ford advertises on our
>site (large alternative music site), they don't want to show ads to
>metalheads and not to punk rockers.
>
>for most sites, agents are somewhat worthless.
>
>david hyman <davidh_at_addict.com>
>
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