Minutes of the AgentLink Management Committee Meeting held in Brussels, 25th September 1998 Present * Michael Wooldridge (MJW - Chair, general coordinator) * Donald Steiner (DS - WP1 coordinator) * Yves Demazeau (YD - WP2 coordinator) * Gerhard Weiss (GW - WP3 coordinator) * Carles Sierra (CS - WP2/e-commerce SIG) * Nick Jennings (NJ - WP2 committee) * Janet Bruten (JB - WP4 committee) * Jan Treur (JT - meth/soft eng SIG) * Innes Ferguson (IF - i2a SIG) * Paul Davidsson (PD - WP4 committee/editor of newsletter) * Bernard Burg (BB - WP1 committee) * John Perram (JP - WP1 committee) * Magnus Boman (MB - WP2 committee) * Rosaria Conte (RC - WP4 committee) * Hugo Brailsford (HB - admin coordinator for network) Apologies * Thomas Magedanz (WP1 committee) * Norman Sadeh (NS - European Commission representative) * Wiebe van der Hoek (WP3 committee) 1. Welcome The committee welcomed HB, joining AL as administrative co-ordinator, and also RC, IF, PD and BB, attending the meeting for the first time. MJW noted that the absence of NS meant that all decisions of the committee would need ratification before they could be made public. (Comments attributed to NS in the minutes were made after the meeting itself.) 2. Discussion of financial situation A financial summary was distributed by MJW, indicating that about 165000 ECU in total was available to SIGs and related networking activities. Based on this information, six different models of SIG resource allocation were proposed by MJW. Each presented alternative options for distributing the 165000 ECU in terms of differing proportions of travel and subsistence expenses and other miscellaneous costs. MJW asserted that a model needed to be decided upon before any new requests for SIG funding were evaluated - for this reason, this agenda item was discussed immediately after opening remarks. It was agreed that the following model would be used as the basis on which to fund the SIGs: SIG kick off meetings, Sep 24 1998 3 x meetings plus rooms 35000 ECU Second SIG meetings 6 SIGs, 10 participants each at 750 ECU per participant 45000 ECU Third SIG meetings 6 SIGs, 10 participants at each at 750 ECU per participant 45000 ECU Plenary @ PAAM-99 costs for 50 registrations 15000 ECU Other networking activities subtotal 25000 ECU MJW reminded the group that in the future, SIG funding for meeting attendance would very likely need to be rationed (with likely many more applications for funding to be received), and that hard decisions would have to be made about the allocation of such funds. The group also agreed to favour the co-location of SIG meetings when possible. There was some discussion about what possible things might be funded under "other networking activities". It was suggested that money be used to help fund the travel and attendance of female speakers to conferences and workshops. While it was agreed that the low level of female participation in agent conferences and workshops was a general area of concern, there was some doubt about the practicality and appropriateness of such a fund from AgentLink. MJW agreed to work with RC to consider other possible measures that may be taken to address this problem. In order to ensure that accurate and up-to-date financial information was available to the network at all times, it was agreed that claims for expenses would have to be submitted with two months of AL event attendance, and would otherwise be rejected. It was emphasised that AL could not fund outside of ESPRIT guidelines, and that in all events, AgentLink must put its primary objective - of facilitating pan-European agent R&D - ahead of any other concerns. 3. Feedback/discussion on SIG kick off MJW commented that the SIGs had had a very encouraging start, with a high level of interest shown in their activities, and congratulated the SIG organisers on their efforts. It was fortunate that the travel and living expenses of all attendees for the SIG meetings of the 24th September would be able to be paid for by AL, but highly unlikely that this would be the case at future meetings, considering the increasing membership of and level of interest in the SIGs. There was considerable discussion on the issue of the interdisciplinary nature of SIGs. Many felt that it would be desirable to encourage the participation of parties (such as social scientists and those from the legal professions) in SIG meetings by paying for travel expenses to meetings. MJW reminded the group that special approval is needed to pay for the travel costs of those outside of the network, and that offers to pay for the travel costs of such should only be extended on a very limited basis. It would be preferable instead to suggest that such parties submit to join the AL network where possible. Reports from SIGs on the working group meetings of the 24th September to be submitted by 13th November 1998, and will be included (perhaps in an edited form) for the second issue of the newsletter. 4. Workpackage 1 Report: Industrial Action (DS) DS reported that Thomas Magedanz is to take over responsibility for the recently vacated management committee position of Hyacinth Nwana Task 1.1: Industrial meetings: AgentLink has been advertised in one industrial meeting to date. NS suggested holding a press event for the e-commerce SIG and AL at the IST conference in Vienna in December 1998, and MJW and CS agreed to follow this up. Task 1.2: Agent systems and technology database: Only one submission of software for the software/products database has so far been received, although DS was confident of more to come. It was agreed that a call for more submissions would be included in the next AL update email. There was agreement also that classified lists of existing software should be added to the database. The arrival of the online version of this database is imminent, and should encourage submissions by acting as a focus for this activity. Task 1.3: Application area special interest groups: A proposal for a SIG on Intelligent Agents in Telecommunications from Sahin Albayrak was considered. It was felt that the only issue standing in the way of approving this SIG proposal was that it should clearly reflect the interests of the entire agents in telecoms community, in particular the CLIMATE collection of ACTS projects, being co-ordinated by Thomas Magedanz. The proposal was therefore approved, subject to the SIG meeting these requirements. It was agreed that SIG-specific subscription-based mail groups would be allowed, so long as all calls for participation and forthcoming events were made entirely open, and mailed to the main AL mailing list. Task 1.5: Standardisation initiatives: A proposal was received from DS, BB and Jeremy Pitt from Imperial College to host an agent name server to promote investigation of interoperability amongst agents from different sources. NJ expressed concern that we have no firm commitments from people to contribute materials to the server for agent platforms. MJW suggested and it was agreed that there should be regular reports to management committee meetings on usage/uptake, and also an article for the newsletter explaining the purpose of the server and how to go about using it. It was felt that the quotes for hardware costs prepared by Imperial College were very high, and it was agreed that they should resubmit revised quotes on hardware costs to DS. Subject to these issues being resolved to the satisfaction of the management committee, approval was granted for this expense. 5. Workpackage 2 Report: Research Coordination (YD) Task 2.1: Research database: Materials from this database soon to be made available online through the AL site. Task 2.2: Research area SIGs: Three proposals were submitted for consideration as AL SIGs: * Agent-based simulation. Modelling organizations and normative agents. There were concerns that this SIG had not enough industrial relevance, being too research oriented, and that the subtitle made the focus of the SIG too narrow: agent-based simulation was felt to be a broader field than the proposal itself might indicate. It was decided that this SIG should be approved, subject to appropriate revisions being made to the proposal. NS stressed the importance of the industrial component of all SIGs, and suggested that one possible way to ensure representation of industry would be to have an industrial co-co-ordinator of the SIG. * An Agent-Link SIG about Robocup. It was suggested that the proposer develop this for possible consideration in a forthcoming real-time systems SIG proposal, it having no declared AL interest or AL node membership. * Situated Agents SIG. This proposal was felt to be at an early stage of development, and was not appoved by the committee. Since the committee had agreed to support only 6 SIGs in total, the approval of 5 to date meant that there was only funds to support one more. It was therefore decided that, in the interests of fairness, this fact should be announced in the next AL update, and that proposals for this final SIG should be submitted no later than 1st December 1998. Task 2.3: Clearinghouse for agent-related materials. Work is underway to develop this. Task 2.4: Support for agent workshops and conferences. The committee resolved to suport the following activities: * CEEMAS-99. It was agreed to support this event to the requested total of 2250 ECU. * UK-MAS 98. It was agreed to support this event to the total of 1000 ECU. * MAAMAW-99. It was agreed that financial support be made available for all those in the network with full papers accepted to the MAAMAW-99 conference, to a maximum of 15000 ECU. Details of the arrangement to be worked out by MJW and MAAMAW organisers. 6. Workpackage 3 Report: Training/Awareness (GW) It has yet to be decided where the 1999 summer school is to take place. A venue other than Stockholm may need to be found. JP agreed to investigate accommodation in Copenhagen as an alternative. The importance of agreeing a location and issuing an announcement in the very near future was agreed by all, and it was resolved that if no suitable location could be found in Sweden, then possible locations further afield would be sought. 7. Workpackage 4 Report: Infrastructure/Management (MJW) Membership of AL has doubled from to 90, with more applications being received. The first issue of the AL newsletter is now at the printers. HB now employed as AL administrative co-ordinator. 8. The AgentLink calendar, September 1998-July 1999 Dates for the next SIG meetings need to be decided soon. 9. Strategic planning (MJW) The absence of NS precluded any substantive discussion in this respect. It was decided that the 1st December 1998 should be the deadline for an outline of the AL strategic plan, and that 15th January 1999 should be a deadline for generating the continuation proposal for AL. It was suggested that the management committee should take into account the socio-economic slant of the ESPRIT 5th framework when suggesting ideas for the plan. 10. Date and location of next meeting There are resources for only one more full-size management committee meeting. MJW suggested that there should be a smaller meeting, with workpackage leaders only attending to consider the continuation proposal - this would probably be held in January 1999. Otherwise, the next full management committee meeting would be at PAAM, in April 1999.