Research activity in 2001
In the course of 2000 the research activity was
organized along three themes.
First, the research activity concerned the conceptual
framework supporting the design of coordination mechanisms and the
improvement of the related prototypes. In this framework, the main focus
was on the completion of the integration of previously designed prototypes:
a module supporting the design and use of Coordination Mechanisms (ABACO),
a module devoted to the promotion of awareness among cooperative actors (AW-Manager)
and finally a module reconciling the different conceptual schemes people
use in their work, at the intra-group as well as at the intergroup levels
(Reconciler). The integration was based on the agent-based
approach.characterizing their structure.. A new module has been designed
for the user interface of the AW-Manager: it is based on a 3D
representation of the awareness information to be provided to the actors
cooperating through applications constructed through the integrated ABACO
architecture.
A second research activity was devoted to the analysis
of the role of Classification Schemes in cooperation. To this aim, the
attention was on the usage of classification schemes in cooperation
through the analysis of several field studies reported in the literature.
This investigation helped in clarifying the requirements a technological
support should have in order to take into consideration the distributed
nature of cooperative work. This research applies immediately to the
problems discussed in the framework of Knowledge Management where
classification schemes play a relevant role in the organization and
sharing of various types of information.
The third research activity was in the framework
languages for multi-agent systems. L*MASS: A Language for Situated
Multi--Agent Systems has been defined in order to introduce the spatial
dimension in multi-agent systems through an excplicit topology where
agents are located (situatedness) and can interact synchronously and
asynchronously according to their mutual positions.
S.Bandini, S.Manzoni, G.Pavesi, C.Simone. L*MASS: A
Language for Situated Multi--Agent Systems. LNCS-LNAI 2175, pp. 249-254,
2001.
C. Simone and M. Sarini, Adaptability of classification
schemes in cooperation: what does it mean?, 7th European Conference on
Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Kluwer, 16-20 September 2001, Bonn,
Germany, pp. 18-39.
S. Bandini, S. Manzoni, G.Pavesi, C.Simone. Location
of Extra-Urban Shopping Centres: a Multi-Agent Approach?. Conferenza
nazionale su Informatica e Pianificazione urbana e territoriale,
Democrazia e Tecnologie (INPUT 2001), 27-29 June 2001, Isole Tremiti, Italy, Electronic Proceedings, Dedalo Edizioni- Bari, pp. 85-97.
S. Bandini, F. De Paoli, S. Manzoni, C. Simone. A OO
Framework for Multi-Agent System. Workshop WOA "Dagli oggetti
agli agenti: tendenze evolutive dei sistemi software, 4-5 September 2001,
Modena, Italy, Electronic Proceedings, pp. 48-60.
