user modeling
A user model is a (data) structure that is used to capture certain characteristics about an individual user, and a user profile is the actual representation in a given user model. The process of obtaining the user profile is called user modeling
en-US/ˈjuzɚ ˈmɑdlɪŋ/
en-GB/ˈjuːzə mɒdlɪŋ/