+++ Apologies for multiple copies due to cross posting to multiple relevant mailing lists +++ FINAL CALL for Papers, Workshop and Tutorial Proposals, and Special Industry Track Papers ****************************************************** 4th International Joint Conference AAMAS on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems July 25 - 29, 2005 Utrecht University, The Netherlands ****************************************************** http://www.aamas2005.nl Important dates =============== Conference papers Electronic abstracts due: DECEMBER 6, 2004 Full electronic paper due: DECEMBER 10, 2004 Workshop and Tutorial proposals due: DECEMBER 20, 2004 Industry track contributions due: FEBRUARY 28, 2005 Please note that the conference will be BLIND reviewed! Authors should carefully read the respective online instructions before submitting. Online submission of papers possible at http://www.aamas2005.nl/paper_submissions'.php from NOVEMBER 8, 2004. More details are provided in the following. ----------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS ----------------------------------------------------- About the conference ==================== Agents are one of the most prominent and attractive technologies in computer science at the beginning of the new milennium. The technologies, methods, and theories of agents and multiagent systems are currently contributing to many diverse domains such as information retrieval, user interfaces, electronic commerce, robotics, computer mediated collaboration, computer games, education and training, ubiquitous computing, and social simulation. They not only are a very promising technology, but are also emerging as a new way of thinking, a conceptual paradigm for analyzing problems and for designing systems, for dealing with complexity, distribution, and interactivity, while providing a new perspective on computing and intelligence. The AAMAS conference series was initiated in 2002 as a merger of three highly successful related events: AGENTS (International Conference on Autonomous Agents), ICMAS (International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems), and ATAL (International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages). The aim of the joint conference is to provide a single, high-profile, internationally renowned forum for research in the theory and practice of autonomous agents and multiagent systems. In particular, it brings together the world's researchers active in this important, vibrant, and rapidly growing field. AAMAS 2005 events include workshops and tutorials given by distinguished experts in the field, as well as an agent school, and doctoral mentoring program. Please check http://www.aamas2005.nl for latest information on the conference. Topics of interest ================== Topics of interest to AAMAS-05 include, but are not restricted to: * agents & complex systems; computational ecosystems * agent architectures; perception, action & planning in agents * agents & cognitive models * agents & networks: web agents, semantic web, grid, web services, P2P * agent communication: languages, semantics, pragmatics & protocols * agent-mediated electronic commerce & trading agents * agent-oriented software engineering & agent-oriented methodologies * agent programming languages, development environments & testbeds * applications of autonomous agents & multi-agent systems * artificial social systems; conventions, norms, social laws & institutions * autonomous robots & robot teams * coalition formation & teamwork; cooperative distributed problem solving * computational complexity in autonomous agents & multi-agent systems * cooperation & coordination; multi-agent planning * cooperative information systems, middle agents & brokers * distributed & multi-agent constraint satisfaction * game theoretic/economic foundations; algorithmic mechanism design * logics & formal models of agency; verification * multi-agent evolution, adaptation & learning * mobile agents * multi-agent simulation & modeling * negotiation, auctions, social choice mechanisms & argumentation * ontologies for agent systems * privacy & security issues in multi-agent systems * scalability & performance issues, robustness & dependability * synthetic agents; human-like, lifelike & believable qualities * theories of agency & autonomy * trust in agent systems; adjustable autonomy Submission of Conference Papers =============================== AAMAS-05 encourages the submission of theoretical, experimental, methodological, and applications papers. Theory papers should make clear the significance and relevance of their results to the AAMAS community. Similarly, applied papers should make clear both their scientific and technical contributions, and are expected to demonstrate a thorough evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses in practice. Papers that address isolated agent capabilities (for example, planning or learning) are discouraged unless they are placed in the overall context of autonomous agent architectures or multi-agent system organization and performance. A thorough evaluation is considered an essential component of any submission. Authors are also requested to make clear the implications of any theoretical and empirical results, as well as how their work relates to the state of the art in autonomous agents and multi-agent systems research as evidenced in, for example, previous AAMAS conferences. All submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed and evaluated on the basis of the quality of their technical contribution, originality, soundness, significance, presentation, understanding of the state of the art, and overall quality. In addition to conventional conference papers, AAMAS-05 also welcomes the submission of papers that focus on implemented systems, software, or robot prototypes. These papers require a demonstration of the prototype at the conference and should include a detailed project or system description specifying the hardware and software features and requirements. Please note that the conference will be BLIND reviewed! Please carefully check http://www.aamas2005.nl/paper_submissions.htm for submission details. The online submission web site http://www.aamas2005.nl/paper_submissions'.php can be used from November 8, 2004. ----------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR TUTORIAL PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ************ The AAMAS-2005 Organising Committee invites proposals for the Tutorial Program, to be held immediately before to the technical conference (July, 25-26). Tutorials should serve one or more of the following objectives: * Introduce novices to major topics of AAMAS research. * Provide instruction in established practices and methodologies. * Survey a mature area of AAMAS research and/or practice. * Motivate and explain an AAMAS topic of emerging importance. * Introduce expert non-specialists to an AAMAS subarea. * Survey an area of agent research especially relevant for people from industry REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSIONS **************************** Proposals should be from two to four pages in length, and should contain the following information: * A brief description of the tutorial, suitable for inclusion in the conference registration brochure. * A detailed outline of the tutorial, including preferred length (1/2 or 1 day). * Characterization of the potential target audience for the tutorial, including prerequisite knowledge. * A description of why the tutorial topic would be of interest to a substantial part of the AAMAS audience. * A brief resume of the presenter(s), which should include name, postal address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address, background in the tutorial area, any available example of work in the area (ideally, a published tutorial-level article on the subject), evidence of teaching experience (including references that address the proposer's presentation ability), and evidence of scholarship in the area. * The name and E-mail address of the corresponding presenter. The corresponding presenter should be available for E-mail correspondence during the evaluation process, in the case clarifications and discussions on the scope and content of the proposal are needed. The evaluation of the proposal will take into account its general interest for AAMAS attendees (e.g., a tutorial on object-oriented inheritance will be hardly accepted), the quality of the proposal (e.g., a tutorial that simply lists a set of concepts without any apparent rationale behind them will be judged badly) as well as the expertise and efficacy of the presenters. We emphasize that the primary criteria for evaluation will be whether a proposal is interesting, well-structured, and motivated, rather than the perceived experience/standing of the proposer. Those submitting a proposal should keep in mind that tutorials are intended to provide an overview of the field; they should present reasonably well established information in a balanced way. Tutorials should not be used to advocate a single avenue of research, nor should they promote a product. All proposals should be submitted by electronic mail to the Tutorial Chair, Onn Shehory (onn@il.ibm.com), in plain ASCII text, no later than ** December 20, 2004 **. The committee's decision will be notified no later than ** January 10, 2005**. The selection of the tutorials to be included in the final AAMAS program will be based upon a number of factors, including: the scientific/technical interest of the topics, the quality of the proposal, the need to avoid strictly overlapping tutorials, and the unavoidable need to limit the overall number of selected tutorials. RESPONSIBILITIES OF AAMAS AND OF TUTORIAL ORGANIZERS **************************************************** For all accepted proposals, AAMAS will be responsible for: * Providing logistic support and a meeting place for the tutorial. * Together with the organizers, determining the tutorial date and time. * Duplicating tutorial material and distributing them to the participants. Tutorial organizers will be responsible for the following: * Providing AAMAS with a legible PDF copy of their tutorial notes in due time. * Presenting the tutorial at AAMAS-05 AAMAS reserves the right to cancel any tutorial if the above responsibilities are not fulfilled, if deadlines are missed or if too few attendees register for the tutorial to support the costs of running the tutorial. IMPORTANT DATES *************** December 20, 2004 Proposal Submission Deadline January 10, 2005 Acceptance Notification April 10, 2005 Deadline for submitting tutorial materials July 25 - 26, 2005 AAMAS-05 Tutorials Proposals and inquiries should be sent by email (in ASCII) to the tutorials chair: Onn Shehory onn@il.ibm.com ----------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ************ The AAMAS-2005 Organising Committee invites proposals for the Workshop Program, to be held immediately before the technical conference (July, 25-26). The main goal of the AAMAS-2005 workshops is to stimulate and facilitate an active exchange, interaction and comparison of approaches, methods, and ideas about specific (both theoretical and applicative) topics on the Agents and Multi-Agent Systems domain. Workshops should be organized so that an informal and participated discussion among attendees is guaranteed. Members from all areas of the AAMAS community are invited to submit workshop proposals for review. Workshops on new emerging topics or specific relevant aspects of consolidated ones are particularly encouraged. Workshops can vary in length, but most will last a full day. Workshop organizers and attendees must register for their workshop and possibly for the main AAMAS conference. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSIONS **************************** Proposals for workshops should be from two to four pages in length, and should contain the following information: * A brief technical description of the workshop, specifying the workshop goals and the technical issues that will be its focus. * A brief discussion of why and to whom the workshop is of interest. * A list of related workshops held within the last two years, if any, and their relation to the proposed workshop. * If applicable, detailed information about previous editions of the same workshop (e.g., number of submissions, number of attendees). * A preliminary call for participation/papers. * The names, postal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the proposed workshop organizing committee. This committee should consist of three or four people knowledgeable about the technical issues to be addressed. These people cannot all work at the same institution. * The name of the primary contact for the organizing committee; an email address of this person should be given. * A description of the qualifications of the individual committee members with respect to organizing scientific events, including a list of workshops previously arranged by any members of the proposed organizing committee, if any. All proposals should be submitted by electronic mail to the Workshop Chair, Rino Falcone (r.falcone@istc.cnr.it), in plain ASCII text, no later than ** December 20, 2004 **. The committee's decision will be notified no later than ** January 10, 2005**. The selection of the workshops to be included in the final AAMAS program will be based upon a number of factors, including: the scientific/technical interest of the topics, the quality of the proposal, the need to avoid strictly overlapping workshops, and the unavoidable need to limit the overall number of selected workshops. RESPONSIBILITIES OF AAMAS AND OF WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS **************************************************** For all accepted proposals, AAMAS will be responsible for: * Providing logistic support and a meeting place for the workshop. * Together with the organizers, determining the workshop date and time. * Duplicating working notes and distributing them to the participants. Workshop organizers will be responsible for the following: * Setting up a Web site for the workshop according to the template that will be distributed upon acceptance. * Advertising the workshop and issuing a call for participation/papers. * Collecting submissions, notifying acceptances in due time, and ensuring a transparent and fair selection process. All workshop organizers commit themselves to adopt the same deadlines for submissions and notifications of acceptance, i.e., - March 14, 2005 submission of contributions to workshops - April 18 2005, notifications * Making the PDF of the whole workshop notes available to the workshop chair in due time (approx. 7 weeks before the conference). * Ensuring that the workshop organizers and the participants get registered to the workshop and are invited to register to the main conference. AAMAS reserves the right to cancel any workshop if the above responsibilities are not fulfilled or if too few attendees register for the workshop. AAMAS encourages the production of publications based on the workshop, and leave this upon the workshop organizers. IMPORTANT DATES for Workshops ***************************** December 20, 2004 Proposal Submission Deadline January 10, 2005 Acceptance Notification March 14, 2005 Deadline for submitting of contributions to workshops April 18, 2005 Acceptance Notifications of contributions to workshops July 25 - 26, 2005 AAMAS-05 Workshops Please send proposals (in ASCII) and inquiries via email to: Rino Falcone r.falcone@istc.cnr.it ----------------------------------------------------- Call for INDUSTRY TRACK PAPERS ----------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ************ The AAMAS-05 conference will, for the first time, feature a track specifically intended for industrial participants: the AAMAS Industry Track. The industry track is being organised in cooperation with AgentLink, Europe's IST-funded coordination activity for autonomous agents and multi-agent systems (see http://www.agentlink.org/). WHAT IS THE INDUSTRY TRACK? *************************** The AAMAS industry track is a special track at the AAMAS conference that will run in parallel to the regular AAMAS scientific track. It will feature presentations and demonstrations from industrial participants, giving them an opportunity to showcase the state of the art in technology and industrial application of autonomous agents and multi-agent systems to AAMAS delegates and to publish associated papers in a high quality, formal proceedings. The industry track aims to foster mutually beneficial links between those engaged in foundational scientific research and those working to make autonomous agents and multi-agent systems a commercial reality. This enables industrially-based software agent developers and practitioners to participate in AAMAS in a meaningful way and to present their technology and applications to both their peers and the associated scientific community. HOW WILL THE TRACK BE REFEREED? ******************************* Whereas in the regular conference track the overriding refereeing criterion is clearly scientific excellence, the industry track focuses primarily on the industrial relevance and technological significance of the contribution. Preference will be given to mature work demonstrating concrete industrial/commercial results and business value. Examples of an "ideal" paper might include: (i) a presentation of a particular kind of commercially available software agent technology, together with experience of how this was applied in a field-tested system; or (ii) a report on a field-tested agent-based system. We explicitly discourage the submission of purely speculative papers, proposals, and plans for future work/potential applications. Academic participation in the industry track is acceptable, but please note that we strongly discourage the submission of: (i) papers that merely appeal to potential applications, without demonstrating that they have been meaningfully applied; (ii) academic papers that work with highly abstracted versions of potential applications; or (iii) academic papers that describe software agent systems/platforms without either a real industrial link or genuine application. In general, if you believe that your paper makes a scientific contribution, you should think about submitting to the regular scientific track; whereas, if your paper is an overview of an agent technology, a "practical experience" paper, or similar, then you should probably submit to the industry track. HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE? ********************** The industry track invites developers, practitioners, and industrial researchers to submit high quality papers on agent technology and its applications. See the conference web site for paper formatting and submission instructions. Accepted contributions will be formally published in the "Proceedings of the Industry Track of AAMAS-05" and will be distributed at the conference along with the AAMAS-05 main conference proceedings. Selected publications will be encouraged to present their applications in the AgentLink newsletter. The contributions will influence the AgentLink Roadmap to be published in 2005. Note that the Industry Track is part of the AAMAS conference - there is no separate registration for the Industry Track. IMPORTANT DATES *************** Deadline for Submission of Contributions - 28 February 2005 Notification of acceptance - 28 March 2005 CO-CHAIRS Michal Pechoucek -- Czech Technical University, AgentLink Donald Steiner -- Quantum Leap Innovations Simon Thompson -- British Telecom Programme Committee: David Allsopp -- Qinetic Fabio Bellifemine -- Telecom Italia Laboratories Jeff Bradshaw -- IHMC Sven Brueckner -- Altarum Monique Calisti -- Whitestein Technologies Jonathan Dale -- Futjitsu Ian Dickenson -- HP Mark Greaves -- DARPA Jon Himoff -- CEO Magenta Martin Hofmann -- Lockheed Martin David Kinny -- Agentis James Lawton -- AFRL Vladimir Marik -- Rockwell Research Center David Martin -- SRI Peter McBurney -- AgentLink Jim Odell -- Agentis Christ Priest -- HP Chris Reed -- Calico Jack, Dundee University Ralph Ronnquist -- AOS Australia Jeff Rosenschein -- Hebrew Uni David Sadek -- France Telecom Onn Shehory -- IBM Israel John Shepherdson -- BT Petr Skobelev -- CTO Magenta Niranjan Suri -- IHMC Simon Thompson -- British Telecom CONTACT for the industry track: Michal Pechoucek pechouc@labe.felk.cvut.cz ----------------------------------------------------- =========================================================== AAMAS 2005 Joint Conference Organizing Committee =========================================================== General co-chairs Sarit Kraus, Bar-Ilan University / University of Maryland Munindar Singh, North Carolina State University Program co-chairs Sven Koenig, University of Southern California Michael Wooldridge, University of Liverpool Local organization chair Frank Dignum, Utrecht University Local treasurer Virginia Dignum, Utrecht University Finance chair Sandip Sen, University of Tulsa Workshops chair Rino Falcone, ISTC - CNR Tutorials chair Onn Shehory, IBM Israel Demos co-chairs Omer Rana, Cardiff University Thomas Rist, FH Augsburg Doctoral mentoring chair Jürgen Dix, TU Clausthal Publicity chair Matthias Klusch, DFKI Sponsorship co-chairs Monique Calisti (Europe) Zakaria Maamar (Middle East) Kamal Karlapalem (South Asia) Jiming Liu (East Asia) Ana Lúcia Bazzan (Latin America) William Walsh (US & Canada) Publications chair Bin Yu, Carnegie Mellon University Student scholarship chair Barbara Keplicz, Warsaw University Exhibits chair Marie-Pierre Gleizes, IRIT, University Paul Sabatier =========================================================== AAMAS 2005 GENERAL CONTACT Sarit Kraus sarit@macs.biu.ac.il Munindar Singh singh@ncsu.edu =========================================================== __________________________________________________ Dr. Matthias Klusch German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany Phone: +49-681-302-5297, Fax: +49-681-302-2235 http://www.dfki.de/~klusch/, klusch@dfki.de __________________________________________________