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Welcome
This website is part of a multidisciplinary research project on "User modeling methods and tools applied to Persona agents" (a.k.a. Persona Project) and belongs to a subproject focussing on "Assessment of Personal and Social Implications of the Use of Persona Technology". The subprojet is undertaken by Prof. Andrew Clement, Dr. Gale Moore, Brenda McPhail and Felix Stalder.
This project is financed in part by BCE Enhanced Services Group through the Bell Canada University Labs (BCUL).
"Assessment of Personal and Social Implications of the Use of Persona Technology"
- Read about the goals of this project:
The focus of this website is on building a resource base drawing together the various conceptual approaches to agent design in regard to their social dimensions (e.g. privacy, identity, surveillance, accountability, personal control).
Read the first research paper based on this resource base.
Felix Stalder: Intelligent Agents: some conceptual issues [February 2000]
Why A Resource Base on Conceptual issues in Software Agents?
The design of software agents is a multidisciplinary endeavour. It is therefore not surprising that a number of diverging definitions exist of what such an agent really is. Furthermore "agent" is by no means the only term that can be used for software that can, in some fashion, present and act on behalf of an individual user. Other terms include digital persona, persona manager, personalizer and more. Rather than trying to solve the puzzle of how to define an software agent and add yet another definition, Felix Stalder is in the process of compiling an online resource base that collects these various approaches to software agents. The goal of this resource base is to highlight the various conceptual dimensions of agents design and assessment by contrasting the various definitions. The focus is on the conceptual assumptions that inform various technical projects. This allows us to better see which definition grasps which aspects, assuming, in a field as dynamic as this, no single definition can be ideal for all situations.
This helps us to understand the various blindspots that are included in each of the working definition and in the development work that employs any of these definitions.
The resource base is open to all members of the projects in two ways: Not only can they view the growing number of resources and use them as a quick way to get an overview of issues that might lie somewhat outside their own specialization, but each member can also contribute resources that he or she values.
To contribute references to the resource base, send them to Felix Stalder
Go the the resource base: