Agreement Technologies Action IC0801 Sascha Ossowski Agreement - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Agreement Technologies Action IC0801 Sascha Ossowski

Agreement Technologies Social Science Large-scale open distributed systems  Area of enormous social and economic − potential Paradigm Shift : beyond the client-server − architectures… Agreement Vision:  A paradigm for next-generation open − distributed systems, based on the concept of agreement between computational Semantic Multiagent agents . Technologies Systems JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Strands of research Fundamental and applied research:  Semantics: Semantic mismatches & alignment of ontologies − Trust Norms: Specify and verify constraints on agreement − Argumentation Organisations: Structure the processes of reaching − & Negotiation agreements Organisations Argumentation & Negotiation: Reach agreements that − Norms respect the constraints imposed by norms and organisations Semantics Trust: Summarise the history of agreements and agreement − executions in order to build long-term relation Interdisciplinary research:   Solid conceptual foundations : robust understanding of the notion of agreement and agreement processes JISBD’09 09/09/2009

COST Action on Agreement Technologies Several research initiatives are currently ongoing around Europe and  worldwide that address (some of) these challenges COST Action IC0801 on “ Agreement Technologies ”  : Europ. Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research − − Duration: 10/2008 ̶ 10/2012 (4 years) − Overall mission : “ to support and promote the harmonization of nationally-funded high-quality research towards a new paradigm for next generation distributed systems based on the notion of agreement between computational agents... ” − Networking activities: coordination of research & training JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Action Activities • Activity A1: Working Group Workshops  Research coordination through effective knowledge and result exchange  Focused und the five key topics of Agreement Technologies • Activity A2: Ad hoc Seminars  Small-scale (low cost) meetings, possibly co-located with other events • Activity A3: Coordination visits for senior researchers  STSM programme: joint research/ funding proposal preparation • Activity A4: Training visits for early-stage researchers  STSM programme: European PhD label/ jointly supervised PhDs • Activity A5: Early-stage-researchers meetings  Raise awareness of the necessities of PhD students and young PostDocs JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Action Activities • Activity A6: Training School in Agreement Technologies  Training events open to both participants from academia and industry  Possibly in co-operation with existing training schools • Activity A7: Agreement Technologies Industrial Days  Project the prospective benefits of AT to European Industry • Activity A8: Agreement Technologies Handbook  Reference for the state of the art in AT, its applications and industrial potential • Activity A9: Dissemination and Exploitation  Classic dissemination means including liaisons & central Action Web Site  Promotion of bi/multi-lateral research funding proposals among members JISBD’09 09/09/2009

COST Action on Agreement Technologies ● Action member countries (as of September 2009):  21 countries signed MoU  5 non-COST countries ● MC : up to 2 representatives per Action member country ● Scientists from Action member countries can fully participate in the Action‟s activities ● COST “Open door policy” JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Institutions from non-COST Countries JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Management Structure Action Office Vicent Manager Sascha Ossowski Botti Management Committee Other Action Action Cristiano Marco Axel Leila Carles Stakeholders Co-Chair Chair Castelfranchi Polleres Colombetti Amgoud Sierra Core Group WG1 WG2 WG3 WG4 WG5 Chair Chair Chair Chair Chair Advisory Board WG WG WG WG Neg. & WG Semantics Norms Organizations Argumentation Trust JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Working groups • Semantic alignment: WG1 WG1 Semantics – to explore the right tradeoffs between Semantics expressivity and efficiency for ontology, mapping and query languages in a WG5 WG2 distributed setting Trust Norms – to study semantic alignment protocols and algorithms interweaving alignment and negotiation, and possibly taking into account measures of trust • Alignment with standards: WG4 WG3 Negotation & – to explore how existing standardization Organisation Argumentation efforts can be enhanced to cater for agreement relevant information, and how these additions can be exploited JISBD’ 09 09/09/2009

Working groups • Normative reasoning and negotiated WG1 Semantics flexibility – to interpret and instantiate norms to specific situations; WG2 WG5 WG2 – to resolve conflicts between norms, Norms Trust Norms especially when applied to a specific case – to study norm transgression as a motor for the evolution of norms (and organisational change) WG4 WG3 Negotation & • Organisation Usability of norms: Argumentation – enhance user awareness of (and control on) norms JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Working groups • Design and evolution of organisations WG1 – to advance on effective guidelines & Semantics tools for the design of organisational structures, especially wrt. the reuse of norms/organisational patterns WG5 WG2 Trust Norms – to account for organisational change, as in open environments organisational structures continuously evolve so as to efficiently promote effective teamwork • Organisational Teamwork WG4 WG3 WG3 – to exploit organisational information in Negotation & Organisation Organisation Argumentation the processes of team formation, cooperation, and dissolution, based upon dynamic agreements at runtime JISBD’ 09 09/09/2009

Working groups • Argumentation in negotiation: WG1 Semantics – to look into frameworks that integrate argumentation in negotiation, so as to  supply the negotiating parties with WG5 WG2 Trust Norms additional information and  help them convince each other by adequate arguments. • Strategies for bounded interactions: WG4 WG4 – to study mechanisms that can meet the WG3 Negotiation & Negotation & Organisation Argumentation computational bounds to agreement Argumentation processes based on argumentation and negotiation JISBD’09 09/09/2009

Working groups • Advanced trust mechanisms: WG1 Semantics – Scalability: how to develop trust mechanisms based on other agents‟ opinions that scale on large societies WG5 – Semantics: how to deal with WG5 WG2 Trust Trust Norms erroneous behaviour that may be caused by misunderstandings – Similarity : how to use „similar‟ cases when exact past experiences for an agreement under discussion is scarce WG4 • Balance between norms and trust: WG3 Negotation & Organisation – The more norms can be enforced, the Argumentation less need to rely on trust measures, but norm enforcement has an associated cost JISBD’ 09 09/09/2009 14

Agreement Technologies Action IC0801 http://www.agreement-technologies.eu