Abstract
In order to function effectively, agents, whether human or software, must be able to communicate and interact through common understandings and compatible conceptualisations. In a multi-cultural world, ontological differences are a fundamental obstacle that must be overcome before inter-cultural communication can occur. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues faced by agents operating in large-scale multi-cultural environments and to argue for systems that are tolerant of heterogeneity, illustrating the discussion with a running example of researching and comparing university web sites as a realistic scenario representative of many current knowledge management tasks that would benefit from agent assistance. We then discuss the efforts of the Intelligent Agent Laboratory toward designing such tolerant systems, giving a detailed presentation of the results of several implementations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Beck, Eevi E.: Changing documents/documenting changes: using computers for collaborative writing over distance, in Susan Star Leigh (ed.), The Cultures of Computing, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford UK, 1995, 53–68
Boisot, Max H.: The Sharing of Information, in Information space: A Framework for Learning in Organizations, Institutions and Culture, Routledge, London, 1995, 93–164
Bush, Vannevar: As We May Think, The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 176 No. 1, 1945
Gao, X., and Sterling, L.: Classified Advertisement Search Agent (CASA): A Knowledge-Based Information Agent for Searching Semi-Structured Text, Department of Computer Science, The University of Melbourne, Technical Report 98/1, 1998
Hofstadter, Douglas R.: Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid, Basic Books, New York, 1979
Hou, Dominic: Automatic Reconciliation of XML Structures, Honours thesis, Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 2001
Ikeda, Yuji, Itoh, Fumiyaki, and Ueda, Takaya: Example-based frame mapping for heterogeneous information agents, Proceedings of the International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems, IEEE Press, 1998
Jones, Robert Alun, and Spiro, Rand J.: Contextualization, cognitive flexibility, and hypertext: The convergence of interpretive theory, cognitive psychology, and advanced information technologies, in Susan Leigh Star (ed.), The Cultures of Computing, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford UK, 1995, 146–157
Loke, Seng Wai, Sterling, Leon, Sonenberg, Liz, and Kim, Hoon: ARIS: a shell for information agents that exploits web site structure, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Practical Applications of Intelligent Agents and Agent Methodology, London, 1998, 201–219
Sato, S.: CTM: An example-based translation aid system, Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Computational Linguistics, 1992
Simon, Herbert A.: The Psychology of Thinking, The Sciences of the Artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 1996, 69
Star, Susan Leigh: Cooperation without consensus in scientific problem solving: Dynamics of closure in open systems, in Easterbrook, S. (ed.), CSCW: Cooperation or Conflict?, Springer-Verlag, London, 1993, 93–105
Sterling, Leon: On Finding Needles in WWW Haystacks, Advanced Topics in AI, Proceedings of the 10th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Abdul Sattar (ed.), Springer-Verlag LNAI, Vol 1342, 1997, 25–36
Sterling, Leon: A Knowledge-Biased Approach to Information Agents, 1999
Weinstein, Peter C., and Birmingham, William P.: Agent Communication with Differentiated Ontologies, submitted for journal review December 1998
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lister, K., Sterling, L. (2001). Agents in a Multi-cultural World: Towards Ontological Reconciliation. In: Stumptner, M., Corbett, D., Brooks, M. (eds) AI 2001: Advances in Artificial Intelligence. AI 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2256. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45656-2_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45656-2_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42960-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45656-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive