Interests

The content on the PORT website is indexed by research, cancer types, diagnosis, etc.) and/or

classified using both criteria

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sociation suggested was desired by its members. The static segments (referred to here were also adopted from the Association’ initial website, and

About PORT, Terms of Use and Support (Donate) pages. Figure 5.2 presents the Home page and the general appearance of the latest (Phase IV) PORT cancer website.

Appearance of the latest version of the personalised PORT website

PORT website is indexed by content categories

research, cancer types, diagnosis, etc.) and/or interests the content addresses.

classified using both criteria, while blogs, forum and knowledge base content

. The static segments (referred to here were also adopted from the Association’ initial website, and are the About PORT, Terms of Use and Support (Donate) pages. Figure 5.2 presents the Home page and the general appearance of the latest (Phase IV) PORT cancer website.

nalised PORT website

categories (14 categories, e.g., the content addresses. Articles are

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only by interests. Website administrators index articles, knowledge base and forum topics at every new adding of content, while users themselves classify the content they are enabled to create, which are blogs.

Indexing content by interests was introduced in this research for the purposes of personalising content, i.e., generating content recommendations that reflect user’s cancer- related interests (next explained). PORT Association’s original website classified articles, as their main content type, into the previously stated categories of cancer topics, for easier search. The categories from the initial website were adopted on the here-developed website, as an additional parameter used in articles’ personalisation.

Previous research [299] was used to identify the different groups of interests, particularly the types of cancer information. Additionally, one of the pilot studies in this research explored the topics of discussion on a cancer forum used in B&H (see my publications in [298] and [284]). The popular cancer topics in B&H and the online cancer information most frequently sought on the Internet were combined to form the 12 types of cancer information used on the PORT website. These are:

 Alternative treatments or medicines  Diet/nutrition/nutritional supplements

 Information on a particular doctor or hospital treating certain types of cancer  Experimental treatments or medicines

 Gathering information before visiting a doctor  Personal stories of people in a similar situation  Prescription or over-the-counter drugs

 Certain medical treatment or procedure

 Specific cancer type or cancer-related medical problem  Sensitive cancer-related topics that are difficult to talk about  Consequences of cancer and cancer treatment

 Exercises and fitness.

Moreover, as this research focuses on cancer services for different categories of cancer- affected people, it was necessary to classify the website’s content based on the audience

it was intended for. Finally, as this is a cancer website, one of the most important aspects to classify its content by was the type of cancer it addresses.

classifications – by gender and by body part (organ or tissue) 301].

Hence, all the content types on the PORT website are indexed by four groups of

effect of cancer - whether the content reflects interests of a cancer patient, an indirectly affected user, or a user generally interested in cancer information;

whether the content addresses male or female cancers; different cancers are covered by the content; and

(12 categories, from treatments and diets, to personal stories and

User profile customisation

Content indexing

Figure 5.3. Type of cancer information,

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it was intended for. Finally, as this is a cancer website, one of the most important aspects to classify its content by was the type of cancer it addresses. Two general cancer

by gender and by body part (organ or tissue) – were

Hence, all the content types on the PORT website are indexed by four groups of

whether the content reflects interests of a cancer patient, an indirectly affected user, or a user generally interested in cancer information;

whether the content addresses male or female cancers; cancer types

different cancers are covered by the content; and type of cancer information

(12 categories, from treatments and diets, to personal stories and doctors/hospitals).

User profile customisation

Type of cancer information, as one of the interest categories

it was intended for. Finally, as this is a cancer website, one of the most important aspects wo general cancer-type were adopted from [300,

Hence, all the content types on the PORT website are indexed by four groups of interests: whether the content reflects interests of a cancer patient, an indirectly affected user, or a user generally interested in cancer information; cancers by gender –

cancer types – which of the 58

type of cancer information it provides doctors/hospitals).

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To match the content with user preferences, users provide their personal information on the edit profile page. The following type of data is collected: demographic information, including gender, age, country of residence; website appearance preferences, including favourite colour, website background colour or image, profile image; and user’s cancer- related interests. The same four groups of interest categories appear in user profile customisation. In addition to specifying how they were affected by cancer, whether male or female cancers interest them, and the individual cancer types, users also select from among the 12 types of cancer information that interest them. Figure 5.3 illustrates how this feature is implemented on PORT website - on the edit profile page (top) and in

indexing content (bottom).