DAI-List Digest Thursday, 13 August 1992 Issue Number 86 Topics: What is DAI? Re: DAI Olympics DAI competition - another twist Tutorial and Workshop on CKBS Call for Participation for CIKM-92 Job Opening: RA postion at Stanford Please send submissions to DAI-List@mcc.com. Send other requests, such as changes in your e-mail address, to DAI-List-Request@mcc.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 92 13:11:13 BST (Thu) From: Stephen Marsh Subject: What is DAI? This years MAAMAW contained a panel session that concentrated on the relationship between AI and DAI. Where we are and where we're going. Whilst it is pertinent to ask why we are asking the question in the first place, that may be the topic for another discussion. For now, I'd like to present a view that, via an analogy, hopefully presents one aspect of the question - how is DAI related to AI? All comments appreciated. I would like to propose that the relationship between DAI and AI is akin to that between CSCW and HCI. Both CSCW and DAI started out as `offshoots' from their `parent' disciplines, but now both are disciplies in their own right. Indeed, CSCW could be seen as a superset of what HCI has to offer or is concerned with. The same could be said of DAI. We consider more than the basics of AI. Just as CSCW encompasses social aspects, so does DAI; likewise, distribution is a main point for both disciplines (not necessarily spatial distribution, but distribution in terms of considering more than one actor or agent). So what comes of this brief consideration? DAI is a field that sprouted from AI not long ago, but can now be considered a superset of AI - it considers all that AI considers, but with added sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects, not to mention the emphasis being placed on emergence, which is becoming almost a discipline in its own right. Steve Marsh, Department of Computing Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA. SCOTLAND. tel +44 786 67444 fax +44 786 64551 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 1992 10:25:39 -0800 From: "Raj Dodhiawala" Subject: Re: DAI Olympics On the subject of DAI Olympics, I think the DAI workshop would be an appropriate forum to discuss proposals and event spec out the selected idea. To add my two bits, I think a Mars Rovers (multiple) scenario is realistic and possible to simulate with human in the loop (high-level control). The "application" has sufficient room to develop interesting situations that call for various types of cooperation and distribution. It has the "charm" of PHOENIX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Aug 92 19:24:36 PDT From: "N. S. Sridharan" Subject: DAI competition - another twist Another twist on the idea is to shift DAI Competition into a DAI Cooperation. Why compete - since as Candy put it, there is not enough common ground - and any new domain would mean needless effort distracting from current focus. In a DAI Cooperation, people focusing on different aspects of DAI, attempt to show that their system - assumes that there are other agents in the world - can interact with them - can discover some attributes of these agents - and can modify their behavior to reflect the presence of other agents The collective of agents is scored on how well they are able to function. Some of our discussion in Gloucester workshop that was triggered by Miro are relevant on how to score and what to score. Sorry to be a bit terse, but as time permits I shall try to elaborate. Ah yes, each agent is working on something that forms the core of what their own world is, the interaction with other agents is not in any DOMAIN. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Athula Herath Subject: Tutorial and Workshop on CKBS Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 23:41:47 MET Call for Registration Tutorial and Workshop on Cooperating Knowledge Based Systems September 23-24, 1992, Keele University The UK Special Interest Group on Cooperating Knowledge Based Systems (CKBS-SIGUK) sponsored by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, invites you to register for a tutorial and workshop to be held at Keele University from September 23 to 24, 1992. Tutorial [Wednesday, September 23, 2-5 p.m.] Topic: Multi-agent Systems Presenter:Dr. Donald Steiner, Siemens, Germany Dr. Steiner worked in some large US projects before joining Siemens to work on multiagent systems. Workshop [Thursday, September 24, starting at 9am] Topics: These are expected to include [partial list]: o The recently proposed DARPA (US Department of Defence) language for multiagent systems o Design issues in a CKBS approach to telecommunication diagnostics o Optimisation in an intelligent data-network routing system o Some issues in Air Traffic Control o Applying CKBS techniques to electronic mail o Knowledge consistency A draft workshop proceedings will include drafts/handouts, as available, of the presentations at the conference. The full papers will be reviewed subsequently following their presentation at the workshop, and those selected will constitue the final workshop proceedings. Copies of the final proceedings will be mailed to the attendees in due course. Background In CKBS a number of intelligent computer systems cooperate together to solve problems that cannot be solved otherwise. CKBSs may be described as the next generation of intelligent systems, with a wide range of industrial application areas, such as air traffic control, telecommunications network management, distributed sensor networks, distributed monitoring and fault diagnostics, intelligent manufacturing systemsand so on. The focus of CKBS is applied multiagent systems where the techniques of distributed artificial intelligence and distributed databases blend together to provide good solutions to real world problems. The first international conference on this theme was the CKBS'90 held at Keele in October 1990. The conference was considered by the participants to be a valuable forum for the cross fertilisation of ideas in this area and at their suggestion a special interest group, CKBS-SIG International, was formed (managed by the DAKE Centre at Keele), in order to provide a nucleus for further activities in this area. The CKBS-SIG (UK) is a subgroup of this larger SIG. Attendance is welcome from members of CKBS-SIG International and also from other interested researchers. The activity committee of the workshop consists of: Prof. S.M. Deen(Keele University) [Chairman] Prof. J. Doran(University of Essex) Dr. D. Grif#ths(British Telecom) Dr. P. Kearney(Sharp Laboratories, Europe) Prof. I. Mamdani(Queen Mary and West#eld College, London) REGISTRATION FORM Tutorial and Workshop on Cooperating Knowledge Based Systems September 23-24, 1992, Keele University Name (including title): ................................................ Affliation (for badge). ................................................ Address: ............................................................... ............................................................... SGES(BCS Specialist group on Expert Systems) Membership Number: ........ Phone: .................. Fax: ............. Email: .................... Tutorial Registration Fee (23 September) includes handouts and afternoon tea/coffee ** Student 25 pounds O ** Academic 35 pounds O SGES Member 45 pounds O Other 55 pounds O Surcharge for registering after 18 September 15 pounds O Workshop Registration Fee (24 September) includes lunch, Tea/Coffee, draft workshop proceedings and the final workshop proceedings ** Student and Academic 35 pounds O SGES Member 45 pounds O Other 65 pounds O Surcharge for registering after 18 September 15 pounds O Accommodation 22 pounds per night (includes breakfast), 33 pounds per night with bathroom facilities (limited supply) September 22 22 pounds O or 33 pounds O September 23 22 pounds O or 33 pounds O September 24 22 pounds O or 33 pounds O Total: ............................................ pounds ** students and academics from recognised institutions only. Please tick the appropriate boxes above. Payment must be made to the University of Keele, in pounds sterling drawn on a British Bank or by Eurocheque or Bankers Draft. Cheques must be crossed. Payment can alternatively be made by credit card Please tick ACCESS O VISA O MASTERCARD O EUROCARD O Card Number: ............................ Expiry.Date: ................. Signature ........................................................... Please note full payment must accompany the registration form; there is no provision for invoicing. Please send your forms with payment to: Mark Walsh (CKBS-SIG Secretary), DAKE Centre, University of Keele, Keele, Staffs. ST5 5BG. UK. Phone: +44 782 583410, Fax: +44 782 713082 Email: mark@cs.keele.ac.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 11:38:31 EDT From: finin@cs.umbc.edu (Timothy Finin) Subject: Call for Participation for CIKM-92 CIKM-92 First International Conference on INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT November 8 - 11, 1992 Radisson Lord Baltimore Hotel Baltimore, Maryland, USA CIKM-92 will provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of research on the management of information and knowledge. The scope of the conference will cover the integration of database technology, knowledge representation and reasoning, information retrieval, and techniques for locating and accessing relevant data and knowledge in very large, distributed information systems. The conference will include 18 invited talks, 68 submitted papers and 24 poster presentations, panel sessions and tutorials. The keynote address will be by Gio Wiederhold (DARPA/Stanford) on "Intelligent Integration of Diverse Information Sources." Other invited speakers include Maria Zemenkova (NSF), Amit Sheth (Bellcore), Judea Pearl (UCLA), Peter Buneman (Pennsylvania), Doug Terry (Xerox Parc), Bob Robbins (Johns Hopkins), Joan Sullivan (NIST), Bharat Bhargava (Purdue), David Waltz (Thinking Machines/Brandeis), Len Gallagher (NIST), Ahmed Elmagarmid (Purdue), Richard Soley (Object Management Group), Larry Reeker (IDA), Bruce Blum (Johns Hopkins), and Il-Yeol Song (Drexel). For more information, send email to CIKM-INFO@CS.UMBC.EDU to receive an automatic reply containing registration forms and an advance program. For general inquiries, contact: CIKM-92, Computer Science Department, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD 21228-5398. email: cikm@cs.umbc.edu, phone: +1 410-455-3000, fax: +1 410 455-3969. CIKM-92 is sponsored by ISMM and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and held in cooperation with AAAI, IEEE, and ACM. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 10:22:28 PDT From: gasser%morue.usc.edu@usc.edu (Les Gasser) Subject: Job Opening: RA postion at Stanford Job Description for Post-Doctoral Research Associate: The Concurrent Product and Process Design Project at Stanford is seeking a post-Doctoral Research Associate to participate in and lead research on distributed concurrent engineering environments. The position requires an extensive background in Artifical Intelligence applied to engineering and design, with considerable experience in modeling, planning, knowledge representation, and the development of large, integrated software systems. The successful applicant will lead the development of "SHARE", an innovative engineering environment comprising cooperating intelligent agents (humans and software modules) and a distributed, shared representation of designs and processes. He or she will help supervise students and junior staff, and will contribute to research in the areas of computer-mediated team design, design representation and the application of software engineering methodologies and tools to mechanical design. The SHARE project is directed by Professors Larry Leifer and Mark Cutkosky of the Center for Design Research at Stanford, in collaboration with Dr. Jay M. Tenenbaum, President of Enterprise Integration Inc. and Consulting Professor, C.S. Department, Stanford. Direct inquiries to: Mark R. Cutkosky Associate Professor Dept. of Mechanical Engineering cutkosky@cdr.stanford.edu Secretary phone: (415) 723-4287 FAX: (415) 723-3521