User interest in content on a webpage is an important factor for making business decisions and improving user experience. Explicit ratings are often used as a measure of interest. However, obtaining explicit ratings is problematic because it disrupts the user's browsing experience. Implicit ratings allow a website to recognize indicators of interest by observing the behaviors of a user. This project attempted to identify implicit indicators of interest. A social news site was deployed with specialized software to track clicks, mouse movement, total time in addition to other metrics. Using the data collected by the website, the explicit and implicit ratings were compared and we found that time spent on page and link clicks were the best indicators of interest.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• McLoughlin, Brendan Thomas
• Wunschel, Jennifer L.
• Faucher, Joshua Paul

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042711-182650

Advisor

• Wills, Craig E.

Year

• 2011

Date created

• 2011-04-27

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Computer Science

Rights statement

• In Copyright