Agents are queries of various types that a user saves for future usage. These can be Boolean or basic queries, and can be iteratively refined with examples.
Like categories, you define an agent with training that is similar to the content that you want to find. You can also define content that you do not want.
Users can search using their agents to find documents that match their interests. You can also set up agents to discard results that have already been read, so that users can always view the most recent content, without repeating results.
You, or your end users, can create agents manually, or you can set up profiles to create agents automatically for users as they search and view documents on your system.
You can use the Users page in the Control section of IDOL Admin to set up and manage agents.
Agents also allow you to set up Communities of users with similar interests or expertise.
You define the topic with training (similar to category training), which can consist of documents, text, Boolean expressions, and so on. You can also specify negative training, which indicates any items that the user is not interested in. Training can be accumulated over time to reflect changing interests.
Agent retraining builds up a complete picture of what the user wants over time, without using complicated processes to weight older training, or creating new agents.
Agents find information that a user is interested in, and can be used on-demand, or as a way of recommending content to users. For example, you might want to use agents to:
recommend articles on a Web site.
notify security personnel when a large number of new documents match a security-based agent.
implement a wish list on an e-commerce site, and inform users when new products match their interests or wish list items.
notify lawyers when new documents that match their latest legal case are made available.
You can also use agents in the alerting process, to e-mail users content that matches their interests.
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