AGENTLINK UPDATE # 11 --- 11 December 1998 This is the email newsletter of AgentLink -- Europe's Network of Excellence for Agent-based Computing. The AgentLink WWW site is http://www.AgentLink.org/ IMPORTANT: Please take the time to ensure that every member of your group receives a copy of the AgentLink update. If you have a group mail alias, why not ask for this alias to be added to the AgentLink update list? To add someone to this mailing list (not necessarily a member of AgentLink), just send a request to mailto:coordinator@AgentLink.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: * European Agent Systems Summer School (EASSS'99), Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 26-30 1999 * Research Skills Database * Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce SIG 2nd meeting -- call for participation * Intelligent information agents SIG 2nd meeting -- call for participation * Methodologies & software engineering SIG 2nd meeting -- call for participation * Agent Based Social Simulation SIG 1st meeting -- call for participation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * European Agent Systems Summer School (EASSS'99), Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 26-30 1999 The week-long AgentLink-organised school will consist of a mixture of introductory and advanced courses, covering the full range of theoretical and practical aspects of agent-based computing. The courses cover topics such as * Agents: Basics and Control Architectures * Multiagent Systems: Basics and Interaction * Mobile Agents * Interface Agents * Coordinated Problem Solving * Automated Decision Making * Automated Negotiation * Multiagent Learning * Logical Foundations of Agent-based Computing * Social Simulation and Artificial Societies * Organization Design * Programming and Languages * (Industrial) Standards for Agent-based Systems * Industrial and Commercial Applications * Computational Market Systems The courses and invited lectures will be presented by internationally leading experts in the field. Confirmed lecturers so far include: * Rosaria Conte, Italian National Research Council, Italy * Keith Decker, University of Delaware, USA * Wiebe van der Hoek, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands * Nick Jennings, University of London, United Kingdom * Victor Lesser, University of Massachusetts, USA * Tuomas Sandholm, Washington University, USA * Sandip Sen, University of Tulsa, USA * Donald Steiner, Siemens AG Munich, Germany * Mike Wellman, University of Michigan, USA * Mike Wooldridge, University of London, United Kingdom Attendance and Registration The summer school will open to anyone from research or industry who wishes to attend, although a registration fee will be levied to cover costs. Some support will available for PhD students wishing to attend the summer school; see below for details. A reduced registration fee will be available to AgentLink members. Full details will appear soon. Support for Student Travel to EASSS'99 Some financial support is available for full-time PhD students registered at universities that are members of AgentLink. This support is intended to cover the cost of travel to the summer school, accommodation, and some subsistence. To apply for this support, PhD students should apply in writing to: Gerhard Weiss --- EASSS'99 --- Institut fuer Informatik Technische Universitaet Muenchen Arcisstrasse 21 D-80290 Muenchen Germany Applications should arrive no later than Monday 15 March 1999. Each application should contain: * full name and full contact details of the student; * estimate of travel costs to and from the summer school (students will be expected to use the cheapest reasonable travel available, staying over the Saturday night if necessary to get cheap air travel); * a brief description of your PhD research, and a statement of no less than 500 words explaining why you feel you should receive support; * a signed letter from your PhD supervisor or head of department, supporting your application and confirming your status as a full time PhD student. This letter should carry the official stamp of your institution. Agent Recruitment Fair Among other things, the summer school will include an "Agent Recruitment Fair", where students will have the opportunity to meet with employers active in the area of agent systems. The recruitment fair will also give employers active in agent and other advanced IT/communications industries to meet the best and brightest of Europe's graduate students. Time & Place EASSS'99 will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Utrecht is a beautiful, ancient city close to Amsterdam (40 minutes by train from Amsterdam airport, 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam centre). EASSS'99 will take place the week before IJCAI'99 (http://www.dsv.su.se/ijcai-99/), which is being held in Stockholm, Sweden. Travel from Utrecht to Stockholm via the nearby Amsterdam airport is straightforward. Further Information For up-to-date information, please visit the home-page of EASSS'99: http://www7.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~weissg/AGENTLINK/EASSS99.html Other queries may be directed at the organiser, Gerhard Weiss (mailto:weissg@informatik.tu-muenchen.de) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Research Skills Database One of the goals of WorkPackage 2 in AgentLink is to establish a research skills database for AgentLink members. Once constructed, this database can be used for finding partners for collaboration within AgentLink, including future joint applications for the fifth frame program. Your important contribution to this process is to fill out an electronic form, which can be found at http://www.dsv.su.se/~mab/AL/Index.html. In the near future, you will be informed about the progress in the process of constructing the database. If you have any questions about this process, or about this questionnaire, do not hesitate to ask Magnus Boman (mailto:mab@dsv.su.se). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce SIG 2nd meeting -- call for participation DATE, TIME & LOCATION The meeting will be held on April 21 & 22, 1999, right after the international PAAM-99 conference in London, UK. The AMEC SIG meeting is co-located with meetings of other SIGs of AgentLink. On April 23rd there will be a plenary session, at which each SIG co-ordinator will present the results of the meetings. Everyone attending the SIG meeting is invited to attend this plenary session. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING The meeting will be organised around four working groups. A chair for each working group will be selected among the members of the SIG. These chairs will organise the discussions in the appropriate form. The co-ordinator will discuss with the other SIGs' co-ordinators the creation of working groups where members of different SIGs will have the oportunity to meet. The four working groups that appeared to be most relevant for the participants on the first meeting were: * Negotiation * Market and protocol specification * Preference modelling * Security PARTICIPATION The number of attendees of this meeting is limited to 40 persons. If you like to attend the meeting, please send a statement of interest not later than JANUARY 15, 1999, including your name, affiliation, topic of interest (try to include one of the above four ones) and full contact address by email. AgentLink SIG meetings are by invitation only, i.e., all participants have to confirm their attendance to the meeting, and have to be confirmed by the SIG co-ordinator. TRAVEL FUNDING AgentLink (AL) will fund a *maximum* of one person from each AL member node to attend *each* SIG meeting, provided that these people are *actively participating* (e.g. by presenting something). AL won't pay people to come and watch. The maximum of funding is 750 ECU per person for max. 10 person per SIG. AL will allow up to 2 people from each AL node to attend each SIG meeting (i.e., if 2 people attend a single SIG meeting, then at most one will be funded.) Please indicate your need to be funded not later than January 15, 1999 by email. You will be notified on acceptance or rejection of your claim for travel funding by email on February 10, 1999. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Intelligent information agents SIG 2nd meeting -- call for participation The main aim of this special interest group (SIG) is to promote collaborative projects and cross fertilisation of ideas between academic nodes with similar interests in the research area of INTELLIGENT INFORMATION AGENTS (I2A). This shall be done, e.g., by putting groups with related interests in touch with one-another, providing and disseminating information about work of national and international groups and projects in the I2A area, supporting workshops and conferences of interest. For more details about the I2A-SIG, please, see the SIG's home page in the Web, bookmark it and check back often for up-to-date informations: http://www.informatik.tu-chemnitz.de/~klusch/i2a-SIG.html This SIG meeting is *not* an academic workshop. Topics concern SIG's further activities in European R&D of intelligent information agents, presentation and discussion of collaborative efforts and advances in R&D in the area. PARTICIPATION The number of attendees of this meeting is limited to 40 persons. AgentLink SIG meetings are **by invitation only**, i.e., all participants have to confirm their attendance of the meeting, and have to be confirmed by the meeting chair. If you like to attend the meeting please send a STATEMENT OF INTEREST to arrive not later than JANUARY 15, 1999, including (1) your name, affiliation and full contact address (2) list of recent and ongoing collaborations and participation in national and European research programs or projects of your group/institute in R&D of intelligent information agents. Available I2A prototypes for demonstration at the meeting. (3) a short (update of the) report about your group (in plain text, pdf or postscript). You may check the following URL for reports on European R&D in intelligent information agents carried out by entities in the SIG: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~klusch/sig/reports.html by email (to klusch@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de) or mail (see address below). You may find more information on the I2A SIG's activities at: http://www.informatik.tu-chemnitz.de/~klusch/i2aActiv.html Date & Location The meeting will be held at APRIL 21 & 22, 1999, and will be co-located with the PAAM-99 conference in LONDON, UK. More detailed info will be available soon. The I2A SIG meeting is co-located with meetings of other SIGs of AgentLink. On April 23rd will be a plenary meeting of the AgentLink network, which Everyone attending the SIG meeting is invited to attend. The plenary day will consist of presentations and discussion both on the future of AgentLink and the future of agent technology generally. Travel Funding AgentLink (AL) will fund a *maximum* of one person from each AL member node to attend *each* SIG meeting, provided that these people are *actively participating* (e.g. by presenting something). AL will allow up to 2 people from each AL node to attend each SIG meeting (i.e., if 2 people attend a single SIG meeting, then at most one will be funded.) Note that travel support will *only* be available to AgentLink members. Please indicate your need to be funded not later than January 15, 1999 by email (to klusch@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de) or mail (see address below). You will be notified on acceptance or rejection of your request for travel support by email on February 10, 1999. Contact For all inquiries concerning the I2A SIG/meeting please contact: Matthias Klusch Technical University of Chemnitz Strasse der Nationen 62 09111 Chemnitz, Germany email: klusch@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de phone: +49-371-531-1511 fax: +49-371-531-1530 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Methodologies & software engineering SIG, call for participation The main aim of this Special Interest Group is to promote co-operation and cross fertilisation of ideas between academic and industrial nodes with similar interests in the area of Methodologies and Software Engineering of Agent Systems. For more details about this SIG, and a report of the first SIG meeting held on September 24, 1998, see the SIG's home page. http://www.cs.vu.nl/~treur/SIG.meth0.html Your are cordially invited to join us at this second meeting. DATE AND TIME The meeting will be held at APRIL 21 & 22, 1999, and will be co-located with the PAAM-99 conference in LONDON, UK. More detailed info will be available soon. The SIG meeting is co-located with meetings of other SIGs of AgentLink. On April 23rd will be a plenary meeting of the AgentLink network, which Everyone attending the SIG meeting is invited to attend. THE MEETING If you like to attend the meeting please send a STATEMENT OF INTEREST to arrive not later than JANUARY 15, 1999, by email (to treur@cs.vu.nl). The aim of the second meeting for this SIG will be to further define and refine an agenda for the area covered by the SIG, mapping out the key issues that need to be addressed in order to make agent-based software development a reality, and the key interests and problems of participants. See the report of the first SIG for the current state of this agenda. To participate in the SIG, you should send a position paper (in Word, HTML or ASCII format), addressing one or more key issues that you consider worth while to be discussed in more detail at the meeting (possibly in a smaller group). These issues may be taken from the list produced at the first meeting, or, if you believe important issues are missing, as an addition to this list. Please relate you contribution to this report as much as possible. The position papers will be included in the SIG's Website. The meeting itself will consist of plenary presentations and discussion sessions, and possibly smaller working groups. TRAVEL FUNDING AgentLink (AL) will fund a *maximum* of one person from each AL member node to attend *each* SIG meeting, provided that these people are *actively participating* (e.g. by presenting something). AL will allow up to 2 people from each AL node to attend each SIG meeting (i.e., if 2 people attend a single SIG meeting, then at most one will be funded.) Note that travel support will *only* be available to AgentLink members. Please indicate your need to be funded not later than January 15, 1999 by email (to treur@cs.vu.nl). You will be notified on acceptance or rejection of your request for travel support by email on February 10, 1999. CONTACT If you have further questions, please contact: Jan Treur (SIG coordinator) Artificial Intelligence Group Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1081a, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: treur@cs.vu.nl URL: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~treur Phone: +31.20.4447763 Fax: +31.20.4447653 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Agent Based Social Simulation SIG 1st meeting -- Call for Participation Computer simulation has proved useful for modelling phenomena of traditionally social scientific interest, such as cooperation, coordination, organizational behavior, social dynamics, group and coalition formation, and the evolution of conventions and norms. Multi-agent researchers soon came to realize how crucial these topics are within their field. In particular, the study of emergence of social phenomena such as organizational performance and optimization, cultural norms, institutional forms has become a major direction of research in MAS. In turn, such social modelling rings into play a variety of normative concepts, such as conventions and obligations, and phenomena, such as commitment and responsibility, and draws attention to how these phenomena evolve among computational agents in interaction. These concerns have led social simulators to pay increasing attention to agent modelling. Dissatisfied with the model of the rational social actor, they have developed simulation models of evolutionary social phenomena incorporating representations of cognition derived other disciplines such as cognitive science and social psychology. However, the model of the agent used is essentially behavioural and frequently more rudimentary than those developed in some areas of AI. The computational study of social organizations and institutions is a topic of growing interest in both the computer science and social science communities. In the formal/computational scientific communities, logical philosophy and social philosophy have a long tradition in studying institutions and obligations. Interest in such issues is rapidly growing. This is shown by several indicators, including (a) the number of workshops, etc.; (b) the diffusion of notions of obligation, convention, trust, commitment, reciprocity, right, permission, etc. in the research on intelligent agents; (c) the attention paid to norm-based phenomena in designing and implementing situated intelligent agents (consider the trade-off between robust performances and flexibility: formal and computational research on commitment essentially proceeds from the question of how to design intelligent, adaptive, flexible agents that exhibit robust performances; moreover, think of the research on conventions as solutions to problems of coordination among autonomously interacting agents). DATE, TIME & LOCATION The meeting will be held at April 21 & 22, 1999, right before the international PAAM-99 conference in London, UK. The I2A SIG meeting is co-located with meetings of other SIGs of AgentLink. On April 23rd will be a plenary session, at which each SIG coordinator will present the results of this meeting. Everyone attending the SIG meeting is invited to attend this plenary session. PARTICIPATION The number of attendees of this meeting is limited to 40 persons. If you like to attend the meeting please send a statement of interest not later than JANUARY 15, 1999, including 1. your name, affiliation and full contact address 2. list of recent and ongoing collaborations and participation in national and European research programs or projects of your group/institute in R&D of agent-based social simulation 3. short (update of the) report about your group (in plain text, pdf or postscript) by email or mail to the meeting chair (see address below). AgentLink SIG meetings are by invitation only, i.e., all participants have to confirm their attendance of the meeting, and have to be confirmed by the meeting chair. Please do not turn up unannounced and expect to be allowed in since AgentLink has to pay for each person attending the meeting. MEETING SCHEDULE Topics of interest concern SIG's further activities in European R&D of agent-based social simulation, presentation and discussion of collaborative efforts and advances in R&D in the area. A preliminary schedule will be available soon. TRAVEL FUNDING AgentLink (AL) will fund a *maximum* of one person from each AL member node to attend *each* SIG meeting, provided that these people are *actively participating* (e.g. by presenting something). AL won't pay people to come and watch. The maximum of funding is 750 ECU per person for max. 10 person per SIG. AL will allow up to 2 people from each AL node to attend each SIG meeting (i.e., if 2 people attend a single SIG meeting, then at most one will be funded.) Please indicate your need to be funded not later than January 15, 1999 by email or mail (see address below). You will be notified on acceptance or rejection of your claim for travel funding by email on February 10, 1999. CONTACT For all inquiries concerning the SIG meeting please contact the coordinator: Rosaria Conte Division of AI, Cognitive and Interaction Modelling PSS (Project on Social Simulation) IP/Cnr, Viale Marx 15 - 00137 Roma Tel +39+06+86090210 Fax +39+6+86090214 mailto:rosaria@pscs2.irmkant.rm.cnr.it END ------------------------------------------------------------