ArgMAS 2009

Argumentation can be abstractly defined as the interaction of different arguments for and against some conclusion. Over the last few years, argumentation has been gaining increasing importance in multi-agent systems, mainly as a vehicle for facilitating "rational interaction" (i.e., interaction which involves the giving and receiving of reasons). This is because argumentation provides tools for designing, implementing and analysing sophisticated forms of interaction among rational agents. Argumentation has made solid contributions to the practice of multi-agent dialogues. Application domains include: legal disputes, business negotiation, labor disputes, team formation, scientific inquiry, deliberative democracy, ontology reconciliation, risk analysis, scheduling, and logistics. A single agent may also use argumentation techniques to perform its individual reasoning because it needs to make decisions under complex preferences policies, in a highly dynamic environment.

This workshop builds on the following successful workshops:

• ArgMAS 2008 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2008, in Estoril, Portugal, May 12, 2008 (attracted 21 participants)
• ArgMAS 2007 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2007, in Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA (attracted 22 participants)
• ArgMAS 2006 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2006, at Future University, Hakodate, Japan (attracted 21 participants)
• ArgMAS 2005 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2005, at Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands (attracted 31 participants)
• ArgMAS 2004 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2004, at Columbia University, New York, USA (attracted 20 participants)

Post-proceedings of previous editions of the workshop have been published in Springer LNCS volumes 3366, 4049, 4766 and 5384.

The workshop will be concerned with the use of the concepts, theories, methodologies, and computational models of argumentation in building autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. The workshop will solicit papers looking at both theory and practice. In particular, the workshop aims at bridging the gap between the vast amount of work on argumentation theory and the practical needs of multi-agent systems research.

Computational models for argumentation • Argumentation-based decision making • Argumentation-based joint deliberation • Argumentation-based persuasion • Argumentation-based inquiry • Argumentation-based negotiation and conflict resolution • Argumentation and risk assessment • Argumentation for legal reasoning • Argumentation for electronic democracy • Argumentation for coordination, cooperation and team formation • Argumentation and game theory in multi-agent systems • Human-agent argumentation • Argumentation and preferences modelling • Strategic behaviour in argument-based dialogues • Deception, trust, reputation in argument-based interaction • Computational complexity of argumentation dialogues • Properties of argumentation dialogues (termination, success, etc.) • Hybrid argumentation-based models • Implemented argumentation-based multi-agent systems • New application areas