SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING USER PREFERENCES AND PROVIDING USER RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNSEEN PHYSICAL AND INFORMATION GOODS AND SERVICES

A system and method for searching data repositories and for obtaining user preferences and providing user recommendations for unseen physical and information goods and services. The system includes, for example, four levels of filtering: content-based, collaborative, event-based and context-based. Filtering is designed to understand and anticipate a user's physical and information goods and services needs by learning about the user's preferences and the preferences of users similar to the user.