The Role of User Differences in Customization: A Case Study in Personalization for Infovis-Based Content

Although there is extensive evidence that personalization of interactive systems can improve the user’s experience and satisfaction, it is also known that the two main approaches to deliver personalization, namely via customization or system-driven adaptation, have limitations. In particular, many users do not use customize mechanisms, while adaptation can be perceived as intrusive and opaque. In this paper, we explore an intermediary approach to personalization, namely delivering system-driven support to customization. To this end, we study a customization mechanism allowing to choose the type and amount of information displayed by means of information visualizations in a system for decision making, and examine the impact of user differences on the effectiveness of this mechanism. Our results show that, for the users who did use the customization mechanism, customization effectiveness was impacted by their levels of visualization literacy and locus of control. These results suggest that the customization mechanism could be improved by system-driven assistance to customize depending on the user’s level of visualization literacy and locus of control.