The primary objective of this research has been to design a multimedia "Book Of On-line Knowledge" (BOOK) that can be customized by the user "on the fly." The developed system can generate 59,049 different books from only 30 building blocks or chunks of information.

The domain of textile weaving has been chosen for the knowledge base and the system is known as Web Weaver. Multimedia technologies – appropriate for the nature of information and user skill levels (novice, intermediate and expert) – have been utilized throughout the system to aid the learning process. These include text, images, animation, audio and video. Multimedia guidelines have been proposed for the distribution of educational information for the three skill levels; the usefulness of these guidelines has been demonstrated by following them in the development of Web Weaver.

Web Weaver is dynamic unlike a classic book which is static. Its other features include an on-line map of the chapters visited by the user, and on-line notebook for taking notes, and on-line bookmarking function, an on-line index and the ability to change the user profile during its use. When the profile is changed, a new book to meet the user’s revised profile is automatically generated by Web Weaver. The Web Weaver has been evaluated by a sample of users and it was found to be useful and friendly to use. Recommendations for further research have also been proposed.

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