A semiotic approach for distinguishing responsibilities in agent-based systems

Samuel Chong

Kecheng Liu

pp. 173-186

in: Kecheng Liu, Rodney J. Clarke, Peter Andersen (eds), Information, organisation and technology, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

Software agent technology is an important advance in the management of information systems that has brought even more potential to the improvement of efficiency and effectiveness of business systems. Timely access to the right information at the shortest time is important in many of our personal and business activities. Agents are also increasingly needed for interoperation between different applications in business processes. Many researchers have emphasised on mental agency, which is the supposition that software agents should be understood primarily in terms of mental concepts and behaviours such as beliefs and intentions (Singh 1998; Chong and Liu 1999). Software agents are widely seen as a personal helper to human users in the tasks of information management, information processing, information routing, amongst many other tasks. For software agents to provide valuable services, several characteristics must exist. One of these characteristics is that human users delegate its job functions.