Forwarded message from [lesperan@cs.yorku.ca (Yves Lesperance)] sent originally on Sun, 24 Oct 1999 15:03:02 -0400 (EDT): : First Call for Papers : : The Seventh International Workshop on : AGENT THEORIES, ARCHITECTURES, AND LANGUAGES : (ATAL-2000) : : Boston, USA : July 7-9, 2000 : (Held in conjunction with ICMAS'2000 and federated events) : http://www.atal.org : : As we turn to a new millennium, intelligent agents are one of the most : important recent developments in computer science. Agents are of : interest in many important application areas, ranging from : human-computer interaction to industrial process control. The ATAL : workshop series aims to bring together researchers interested in the : agent-level, micro aspects of agent technology. Specifically, : ATAL-2000 will address issues such as theories of rational agency, : software architectures for intelligent agents, methodologies and : programming languages for realising agents, and software tools for : applying and evaluating agent systems. ***Papers that consider : macro-level, societal issues of agent-based systems are welcome *only* : if they explicitly relate to the workshop themes***. : : ATAL-2000 will be held in conjunction with the ICMAS'2000 conference : and a set of other agent-related workshops and tutorials. The : ATAL-2000 proceedings will be formally published as volume seven of : the Intelligent Agents series from Springer-Verlag. : : WORKSHOP THEMES : : As the title suggests, the workshop has three main themes: : : * AGENT THEORIES: What approaches (e.g., game theory, temporal/modal : logic) are appropriate for agent theory? How do these approaches relate : to one another? : : * AGENT ARCHITECTURES: What architectures are appropriate for autonomous : agents? How can such architectures be given a formal semantics? How can : different agent architectures be evaluated and compared? What : methodologies can be used to build agent-based applications? How close : are these methodologies to existing formal specification languages or : object-oriented analysis and design methods? : : * AGENT LANGUAGES: What programming paradigms are most suitable for : agents? How do agent-oriented languages differ from object-oriented and : logic programming languages? What are efficient implementation : mechanisms for these languages? : : In addition, ATAL-2000 will include two special paper tracks, and : submissions are particularly welcome on these: : : * AUTONOMY - THEORY, DIMENSIONS, AND REGULATION: In 1947 Alan : Turing, challenging Lady Lovelace's famous truism, said that our : intention in building computers had been that of treating them : like slaves, of giving them tasks that are so completely : specified that the user may know at each instant what is being done. : Until now he says, machines have been used only in this way; but must : this remain the case forever?. Agents are, in fact, beyond Lady : Lovelace's limits, and this comes precisely from their "autonomy": in : learning, in directly accessing information from the world, in : planning and problem solving, in taking initiatives, in having their : own goals, etc. Autonomy is a foundational notion for agents, but : what exactly is it? How do we characterise it? Are there different : dimensions of autonomy and measures of degrees of autonomy? Can we : distinguish between autonomy with respect to the user, with respect to : other agents, or with respect to a "role" in an organisation? How is : autonomy related to initiative and responsibility? How can we : control, intervene on, and adjust agents' autonomy during their : collective activity in order to obtain the desired services or global : result? What is the tradeoff between autonomy, trust, and lack of : control? : : * AGENT DEVELOPMENT TOOLS: : This track seeks to examine the state of the art (or lack thereof) in : tools for developing agents and agent systems. In this context, : "tools" include complete agent programming environments, testbeds, : environment simulators, component libraries, and specification : tools. Relevant issues to examine include: How do existing development : tools compare and differ? How does a tool suggest/support/enforce a : particular design methodology, theory of agency, architecture, or : agent language? Can agent development tools go beyond collections or : libraries of pre-built functionality? Why, as more and more : development tools become available, do most systems seem to be : developed without any specialised tools (something more than "Not : Invented Here")? Is there any evidence that agent development tools : actually increase programmer productivity and/or the quality of the : resulting systems? As we move towards the era of more "fielded" : systems and prototypes, what is the continuing role of testbeds and : simulators? What are the differences in development tools oriented : toward the research community versus the agent application community, : and are we already seeing a significant lag between theory and : practice? Are there obvious development tools, that are unique to : agent-based system development, that have yet to be built? Survey : papers and case studies that focus on how a development tool directly : contributed to an application are also appropriate. : : Papers that cross theme boundaries are of particular interest. An : example would be a paper that demonstrated how a particular agent : architecture embodied some theory of agency, or what benefits a : particular agent language can bring in a specific application domain. : : SUBMISSION DETAILS : : Those wishing to participate in the workshop should submit an original : research paper of up to 5000 words (approximately 13 pages maximum) to : Yves Lesperance. If you wish your paper to be considered : for one of the special tracks then mark this clearly on the front page. : Electronic submission in PostScript is strongly encouraged, but four : single-sided hard copies will also suffice. The first page should include : the full name and contact details (including email, full postal address, : and telephone number) of at least one author. Formatting instructions are : available from the workshop WWW site (see above). The preproceedings will : be distributed at the workshop; the formal proceedings will be published : shortly afterwards. : : Those wishing to attend without presenting a paper should send a brief : summary of their interests in agents to one of the co-chairs. : Attendance will, of necessity, be limited. : : TIMETABLE : : Submissions due March 27, 2000 : Notifications sent April 28, 2000 : Prefinal versions due May 30, 2000 : Workshop July 7-9, 2000 : : ORGANISING COMMITTEE : : Cristiano Castelfranchi (CO-CHAIR) : Division of AI, Cognitive Modeling, Email: castel@ip.rm.cnr.it : & Interaction, Institute of Psychology Tel: (+39)-6-86090-518 : National Research Council : Viale Marx 15, I-00137 Rome, Italy : : Yves Lesperance (CO-CHAIR) : Department of Computer Science Email: lesperan@cs.yorku.ca : York University Tel: (+1 416) 736-5053 : Room 126, Chemistry and Comp. Sc. Bldg. : 4700 Keele St., : Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3. : : : PROGRAM COMMITTEE : : Ron Arkin Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. : Chitta Baral Arizona State U, USA. : Suzanne Barber U of Texas at Austin, USA. : Michael Beetz U of Bonn, Germany. : Lawrence Cavedon RMIT, Australia. : Phil Cohen Oregon Graduate Inst, USA. : Rosaria Conte IP-CNR, Italy. : Giuseppe De Giacomo U of Rome, Italy. : Frank Dignum Eindhoven U, Netherlands. : Alexis Drogoul U of Paris VI, France. : Jacques Ferber U of Montpellier II, France. : Klaus Fischer DFKI, Germany. : Michael Fisher Manchester Metropolitan Univ, UK. : Stan Franklin U of Memphis, USA. : Fausto Giunchiglia U of Trento, Italy. : Piotr Gmytrasiewicz U of Texas at Arlington, USA. : Barbara Grosz Harvard U, USA. : Henry Hexmoor U of North Dakota, USA. : Wiebe van der Hoek Utrecht U, Netherlands. : Marc Huber Intelligent Reasoning Systems, USA. : Mark d'Inverno U of Westminster, UK. : Nick Jennings Queen Mary & Westfield College, UK. : David Kinny U of Melbourne, Australia. : Sarit Kraus Bar-Ilan U, Israel. : Michael Luck U of Warwick, UK. : John-Jules Meyer Utrecht U, Netherlands. : Joerg Mueller Siemens, Germany. : Anand Rao Mitchell Madison Group, UK. : Onn Shehory IBM Haifa Res. Labs, Israel. : Carles Sierra CSIC, Spain. : Munindar Singh North Carolina State U, USA. : Liz Sonenberg U of Melbourne, Australia. : Katia Sycara Carnegie Mellon U, USA. : Milind Tambe USC-ISI, USA. : Jan Treur Free Univ. Amsterdam, Netherlands. : Tom Wagner U of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA. : Wayne Wobcke British Telecom Labs, UK. : Mike Wooldridge Queen Mary & Westfield College, UK. : Eric Yu U of Toronto, Canada.

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