

MIT researchers: morphing Web sites could bring riches - blogimus
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/052208-mit-researchers-morphing-web-sites.html

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bouncingsoul
The problem I see is in needing a few clicks before you can guess the user's
cognitive style. I would assume users visit the most important pages first, so
by the time you can guess at their cognitive style they've probably gone as
far as they'll go. (And I think it'd disruptive to change the content of pages
they've already visited.)

Maybe browsers themselves could determine users' cognitive style over time and
send that info when you visit a site.

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redorb
I agree with your problem, Changing the site after a few clicks means the user
will wonder if they are on the same site...

\- alternatively they could only make the changes for returning users based on
their previous visit..

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bouncingsoul
The paper [pdf]:
[http://web.mit.edu/hauser/www/Papers/Hauser_Urban_Liberali_B...](http://web.mit.edu/hauser/www/Papers/Hauser_Urban_Liberali_Braun_Website_Morphing_May_2008.pdf)

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mosburger
Too bad networkworld.com couldn't deduce that I hate splash ads, and breaking
a story up into three pages. :)

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Leon
Does anyone see one of the problems with this approach? What if a user visits
a site multiple times, and searches the website, looking for new/different
information that they have not found previously - would they have a different
experience?

Would this lead to people being lost in multiple forms of the same site? Even
if you tried to track a user, unless you force people to sign in w/ an
account, most likely it will be impossible to tell if the same user has
returned.

What about link sharing? This site, yc, is all about sharing links and
information. Would this break existing link sharing sites? Wouldn't there at
least be a cognitive difference between people in discussions of a site using
this software?

And still yet, would an approach such as this give users the feeling of
personallization and a better user experience or disenfranchisement of a
constantly changing layout/experience?

Although something like this combined w/ socialhistory.js would be really
nice; that way you could ensure one form over another with greater accuracy
and no need for a click history on the site - the information would already be
available.

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maxniederhofer
any link to the open source software package?

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snewe
<http://mitsloan.mit.edu/vc/do-main.php>

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sebastian
Is this the actual code of the software used in the tests?

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sosuke
I am frustrated because I have typed up 6 comments that I promptly erased
because I don't know if I would be violating an NDA I signed. Great article
though!

Thinking on this I will probably think twice before ever signing another NDA,
it is extremely frustrating not to be able to talk on such and interesting
subject.

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sebastian
You can always post anonymously :)

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Leon
Unfortunately he has already posted his comment about signing an NDA, and
you've responded about posting anonymously. Any anonymous post that breaks
private NDA information would cast a long shadow of suspicion towards the
original poster.

