To assist users to access wanted services and information within a short attention span, personalization has gained tremendous importance. While systems such as recommenders for specific domains have been successfully deployed, there is no existing user-centric mechanism that can be utilized for all application domains. By capturing user's interests and relationships among such interests, it is possible to provide personalization for a wide range of applications. In this paper, we present our

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... itial investigations in constructing concept maps for user interest management. Based on common sense, we have attempted to build a generic concept map that can be utilized for recommendation purposes to address the cold-start problem. We have also presented our experiment in generating personal concept maps, that are derived purely based on data corresponding to a particular user. Our aim is to create a platform for personalized interest management. We provide our observations, challenges and insights based on our experience.