Title: Community-supported collaborative navigation with FoxPeer

Authors: Adriana S. Vivacqua, Jose A. Rodrigues Nt., Michele Machado, Rodrigo Padula, Melissa Paes, Patricia Barros, Geraldo Xexeo, Jano M. de Souza, Mutaleci Miranda

Addresses: Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. ' Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil

Abstract: Navigating the web with its large number of resources can sometimes be hard. Web-based communities form as individuals get together to discuss and exchange information. These communities provide a nexus around which individuals organise and learn. As they grow and accumulate shared resources, they become rich information sources. The usual way to navigate the web is to search, starting from a search page and then browsing to look for adequate resources. However, when looking for information, individuals often turn to others for recommendations or answers. This paper presents a peer-to-peer tool to assist in web navigation and searches by leveraging a community|s existing knowledge. Individuals rate websites and share these ratings with the community. Recommendations are made based on these ratings. This enables a community-geared rating, where individuals know they will find ratings that reflect the opinions of the community in which he or she is inserted. This mimics recommendation-seeking behaviour and has the potential to lead to better results as searches become more directed towards a community|s context.

Keywords: recommendation systems; website sharing; agent-based systems; communities of practice; CoPs; multi-agent systems; MAS; web-based communities; virtual communities; online communities; collaborative navigation; internet navigation; peer-to-peer; P2P.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2009.021565

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2009 Vol.5 No.1, pp.126 - 138

Published online: 30 Nov 2008 *

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