According to one aspect of the invention, a method is provided in which a user in a system is allowed to specify a relative preference for each representation in a set of representations in which information generated from an application domain can be presented to the user. The user is allowed to configure one or more parameters associated with each representation to quantify one or more rendering features corresponding to the respective representation in one or more modalities in which information from the application domain can be presented to the user. In response to an information presentation request to present information to the user, one or more combinations of representations and modalities are selected to be used for the presentation request that can be accommodated by available resources, based upon a set of criteria including the user preferences and resource consumption estimation associated with the presentation request.