Ethnographically informed agent based computational model for collaborative systems

This paper presents an agent based computational model in order to address the long acknowledged problem of translating ethnographic findings into system design. This model is based on an ethnographic framework consisting of three dimensions, distributed coordination, awareness of work and plans and procedures; and the BDI (belief, desire and intention) model of intelligent agents. The ethnographic framework is used to organise ethnographically derived information into the three dimensions; whereas the BDI model allows the information to be mapped onto the concepts of multi-agent systems. Focusing on a case study, the usefulness of the proposed model is demonstrated by showing that ethnographic accounts can systematically inform system design and development. Evaluation and generalisability of the model is discussed in the paper.

[1]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Intelligent agents: theory and practice , 1995, The Knowledge Engineering Review.

[2]  Winfried Lamersdorf,et al.  A flexible BDI architecture supporting extensibility , 2005, IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology.

[3]  Anne E. James,et al.  A general approach to ethnographic analysis for systems design , 2005, SIGDOC '05.

[4]  Edmund H. Durfee,et al.  A Hierarchical Protocol for Coordinating Mulitagent Behaviors , 1990, AAAI.

[5]  Reid G. Smith,et al.  The Contract Net Protocol: High-Level Communication and Control in a Distributed Problem Solver , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Computers.

[6]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  EIGHT CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPERS , 2010 .

[7]  Lucy Suchman.  Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication , 1987 .

[8]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  The interdisciplinary study of coordination , 1994, CSUR.

[9]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Moving out from the control room: ethnography in system design , 1994, CSCW '94.

[10]  Kazuhiro Kuwabara,et al.  AgenTalk: Coordination Protocol Description for Multiagent Systems , 1995, ICMAS.

[11]  Anand S. Rao,et al.  BDI Agents: From Theory to Practice , 1995, ICMAS.

[12]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Informing the Development of Calendar Systems for Domestic Use , 2003, ECSCW.

[13]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  Groupware and social dynamics: eight challenges for developers , 1994, CACM.

[14]  Russell Smith.  The contract net protocol , 1980 .

[15]  Kjeld Schmidt,et al.  Of maps and scripts—the status of formal constructs in cooperative work , 1997, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[16]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Coordination in software agent systems , 1996 .

[17]  Richard Bentley,et al.  Ethnographically-informed systems design for air traffic control , 1992, CSCW '92.

[18]  Ian Taylor,et al.  Designing novel interactional workspaces to support face to face consultations , 2003, CHI '03.

[19]  Laurent Ciarletta,et al.  Agents & artefacts for multiple models coordination: objective and decentralized coordination of simulators , 2010, SAC '10.

[20]  Joseph A. Goguen,et al.  Techniques for requirements elicitation , 1993, [1993] Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.

[21]  Dan Shapiro,et al.  The limits of ethnography: combining social sciences for CSCW , 1994, CSCW '94.

[22]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  A Roadmap of Agent Research and Development , 2004, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.

[23]  Michael D. Myers,et al.  Investigating Information Systems with Ethnographic Research , 1999, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[24]  G. SmithR..  The Contract Net Protocol , 1980 .

[25]  Laurent Ciarletta,et al.  Agents and artefacts for multiple models co-evolution: building complex system simulation as a set of interacting models , 2010, AAMAS.

[26]  Anand S. Rao,et al.  Decision Procedures for BDI Logics , 1998, J. Log. Comput..

[27]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Designing with ethnography: a presentation framework for design , 1997, DIS '97.