Agent-Mediated Pro-active Web-Sites

In this paper we explore the concept of a Semantic Desktop in which software applications will be responsible for the automation of otherwise tedious tasks and the update of user information. We propose an ontology driven software agent solution where two major issues stand out: architecture and process. The architecture issue addresses the current static nature of information on a web page. In order to achieve the level of pro-activity desired we have to be able to identify, classify and code important bits of semantic information in a way that can be automatically manipulated by machines. The second issue relates to the strategy/strategies used to dynamically update information. Because of the variety of actions needed to update web sites e.g., monitoring changes to personal information (phone numbers, addresses, hobbies, etc.), maintaining a knowledge of institutional information, reacting to external events, reaction to political and environmental changes, etc., we hypothesize that no single strategy for maintaining dynamic information-awareness will do but that a variety of strategies need to be put into practice. We propose the creation of a community of software agents, each responsible for achieving a different set of tasks. The Semantic Desktop is achieved through the composition of the site semantics with the functionality provided by the instantiated software agents.