AL3-TF2
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AgentLink III Second Technical Forum (AL3-TF2)
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http://www.agentlink.org/activities/al3-tf/tf2/
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Ljubljana, Slovenia, 28 February - 2 March 2005
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Call for Technical Forum Groups
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AgentLink III (AL3)
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http://www.agentlink.org/
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The AgentLink III (AL3) Coordination Action is a successor to
AgentLink II, the IST-funded Network of Excellence for agent-based
systems, first established in August 2000. Agent-based systems are one
of the most vibrant and important areas of research and development to
have emerged in information technology in the last decade, and
underpin many aspects of the broader IST FP6 programme. Agents
represent the most important new paradigm for software development
since object-orientation, and are likely to play a crucial role within
several advanced application domains, such as Ambient Intelligence,
Grid Computing, Electronic Business, the Semantic Web, Bioinformatics,
as well as monitoring and control, resource management, and space,
military, and manufacturing applications.
AL3 aims to act as a unifying focus for agent-based activities in
these different domains. The intended target audience comprises
academic, research, and industrial organisations throughout the
European Union and its Associated States engaged in agent-related
research and development, and/or applications of agent technologies.
Continuing the efforts of AgentLink and AgentLink II, the long-term
aim of AL3 is to put Europe at the leading edge of international
competitiveness in this increasingly important area. Along this line,
AL3 aims at providing a widely known, high-quality European forum in
which current issues, problems, and solutions in the research,
development, and deployment of agent-based computer systems may be
proposed, discussed, and resolved.
Technical Forum Groups (TFG)
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http://www.agentlink.org/activities/tfg/
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One of the main activities of AgentLink and AgentLink II was to
establish a number of special interest groups (SIGs) of researchers
and developers sharing an interest in specific sub-areas of agent
technology. SIGs were not established in a top-down manner: they were
formed as a result of mostly unsolicited, refereed proposals submitted
by members. However, the SIGs of AgentLink II largely continued in the
same structure as those of AgentLink. In an effort to ensure
effective and appropriate coverage, and to reflect the dynamism of the
field, as well as to establish links to related disciplines, AL3 has
established a periodic Technical Forum (AL3-TF), in which Technical
Forum Groups (TFGs) will meet to discuss issues of key interest. The
aims of the AL3 Technical Fora are:
- to facilitate the dynamic development of communities around specific
areas of strategic importance for European agent R&D, enabling them to
share common problems, issues, and results in a manner that other
meetings (e.g., academic workshops and conferences) do not allow for;
- to respond dynamically to fast-changing developments;
- to develop the AL3 roadmap updating results achieved in AgentLink II;
- to provide the AL3 management committee with "bottom-up" input to
its decision-making process, and hence ensure that the strategic
direction of the Coordination Action is reactive to the needs of its
members;
- to establish links with related areas within computing as well as
other research disciplines, such as economics and biology.
TFGs are selected on a "per event" basis, in response to *bids* for
each Technical Forum, with decisions being made in relation to links
to related areas, industrial relevance and contribution to
roadmapping. New areas that have no obvious forum for discussion of
important issues are prioritised. More precisely, AL3 accepts and
encourages TFG of the following sorts:
- Application-area TFGs. These TFGs are intended to focus on promising
application areas for agent technology. Apart from expanding upon
AgentLink II's programme of application-area SIGs, TFGs are encouraged
to find support from other (national and European) sources in
addition to AL3, and to form collaborations for projects, particularly
with respect to the IST programme.
- Research-area TFGs. One of the key activities of AgentLink II was
the instigation of a number of research SIGs. The corresponding TFGs
in AL3 are collections of nodes, working on closely related underlying
technologies. Particular emphasis here is given to establishing links
with related areas and to other disciplines, in an effort to aggregate
the critical mass of researchers across relevant domains.
- Inter-network TFGs. One aspect of AgentLink II's activities that
proved to be of great interest to the wider IT and telecommunications
communities was a number of meetings held in cooperation with other
European projects, such as the networks of excellence COMPULOGNET,
ONTOWEB and I3NET. These meetings provided researchers and
developers working in both communities with the opportunity to meet,
exchange ideas, and identify issues of common interest. This
activity area is going to be continued and expanded in AL3, with
links to related networks of excellence (such as OntoWeb II) and to
related integrated projects.
TFGs get several benefits from AL3. A number of participants per each
TFG (depending on the number of TFGs at each Forum) get support for
travel. Participants receive copies of handouts/proceedings, and
organisers delegate provision of the meeting rooms, organisation of
the event, etc., to AL3 staff. Also, after several years of successful
work, AgentLink is a relevant scientific brand, and the whole AL3
structure strongly helps to spread scientific results of TFGs,
e.g., through the AL3 Roadmap.
Information about TFGs is made available via the AL3 Web site, with a
web presence ensuring the life of the group beyond individual
meetings. TFGs supported by AL3 are required, as a condition of
funding, to write a report on the TFG meeting, and on activities
preceding and resulting from the meeting, for subsequent inclusion in
the AL3 newsletter and the AL3 Web site. Each TFG is required to have
a chairperson (TFG Chair), responsible for liaising with AL3, managing
the activities of the TFG, and responsible for all the commitments of
the TFG.
The Second AgentLink III Technical Forum (AL3-TF2)
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http://www.agentlink.org/activities/al3-tf/tf2/
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After the successful First AgentLink III Technical Forum (Rome, 30
June - 2 July 2004), the Second AgentLink III Technical Forum
(AL3-TF2) will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 28 February to
2 March 2005. AL3-TF2 will host the meetings of the AL3 TFGs in form
of either half-day or full-day events (longer durations to be
negotiated on request). However, even though AL3-TF2 will represent
the peak of the TFG's work, it will not exhaust their activities,
which will instead have three main phases:
1) AL3-TF2 Preparation
During this stage, TFG Chairs will be responsible to contact all the
potential researcher, institutions and companies that may have an
interest or a contribution to bring to the TFG. They will determine
the *subthemes* that the TFG meeting will explore, and (most
importantly) they will define the *format* the meeting will follow.
In fact, the format is up to the TFG Chairs: it might be a traditional
debate led by invited contributors or a mixture of presentations and
discussions; but original formats or modalities are welcome -- such as
special challenges, one-on-one debates, task-driven subgroup sessions
-- whatever may help achieving the goals of the TFG. This will be
negotiated with the Forum Chairs, and revised by the Scientific
committee -- but mostly, original forms of interaction and discussion
are encouraged indeed.
The responsibility of the TFG Chair here is clearly to provide the
Forum Chairs and AL3 Staff with a *TFG programme* in time before the
meeting takes place. Also, any material to be distributed to AL3-TF2
attendees should be made available to the organisation in advance, so
as to allow for production and delivery -- as well as its Web
availability through the AL3 Web site. Otherwise, TFG Chairs will be
asked to prepare and distribute the material by themselves.
2) AL3-TF2 Meeting
During the official meeting, the TFG Chairs will be in charge of
conducting the meeting, enabling and promoting the active contribution
of all the participants, and driving the TFG's work towards the
achievement of the TFG's goals -- this, as much as possible, without a
priori limiting the free exchange of ideas and results among the
participants. The meeting formats should be explored and exploited at
their best, at the same time trying to avoid rigidity, that may
potentially prevent some unanticipated novel results to emerge.
At the end of the TFG meetings, global AL3-TF2 meetings will take
place, where Forum Chairs will provide a general overview of the
Technical Forum, while the TFG Chairs will be asked to report briefly
on their TFG's activities and perspectives.
3) AL3-TF2 Post-production
After the event, the TFG chairs will summarise the proceedings of the
event for both the TFG and the wider AL3 community. This will consist
of (at least):
- providing all the materials used/produced by participants
during the meeting, to be published on the AL3 Web site
- writing a *TFG report* within two weeks after the meeting, that
should provide a veracious account of the event, and summarise the
most relevant contributions and results achieved. Also, some
reporting about perspective activities should be included. Such a
report should work as both an input for AL3 roadmap and Management
Committee, and a potential report for AgentLink News. Such a
contribution might be produced by TFG Chairs alone, but also
(preferably) with the active contributions by TFG's most active
participants.
- possibly, pointing out relevant contributions that could become
stand-alone research contributions for AgentLink News, and also
potential candidate papers for special issues of agent-related
journals. Also, independent follow-ups promoted by TFG Chairs in
terms of volumes or publications of any sort is welcome and
encouraged.
The extension of a TFG's activity after AL3-TF2 will depend on the
success of the event, the relevance of continuation of activity, and
also on the ability of the TFG Chairs to properly fulfil to all
responsibilities and commitments in AL3-TF2.
Proposals for successful TFGs from the First AgentLink Technical Forum
can be re-issued following the same procedures as the other proposals,
and will be accepted provided that motivations for prosecution of
activity are demonstrated. Proposals for new TFGs are very much
encouraged, and all the AL3-TF2 staff is ready to try hard to find
space, time, and resources for each good TFG proposal that will come
in.
Proposal Submission Guidelines
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http://www.agentlink.org/activities/al3-tf/tf2/submission.html
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Proposals for holding a TFG at the Second AgentLink III Technical
Forum should be sent to the Forum Chairs through the AL3 Web site,
providing:
- Title of the proposed TFG
- Specification whether this is
- a new TFG;
- an already established one (from AL3-TF1);
- a new TFG derived from an old one
- Scope and Aims of the TFG activity
(short description, max. 200 words)
- TFG Category (application-area / research-area / inter-network)
- TFG Chair: Name, affiliation and mail/Web address of the proposed
TFG Chairperson
- Other TFG Promoters: Names, affiliations and mail/Web addresses of
at least three other researchers committing to participate in the TFG
activity (from at least two different institutions, both different
from the TFG Chair's)
- Related Activities, Connections & Perspectives of TFG Chair &
Promoters:
Why should the proposers be the ones to take care of such a TFG?
(a couple of paragraphs and if possible the URLs of the personal Web
pages of each proposer)
- Estimation of Potential Interest:
Who is going to be interested -- individuals, groups and
institutions?
- "Outline plan" of TFG activities:
What kinds of actions will be pursued before, during and after the
TFG meeting at AL3-TF2?
- Intended Format of the TFG meeting at AL3-TF2: Duration, activities,
role of the Chair, expected outcomes, etc.
- Procedures to produce the deliverables after AL3-TF2
Proposals will be reviewed by at least two members of the Scientific
Committees, and accepted / rejected by the Forum Chairs on behalf of
the AL3 Management Committee.
FAQ
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Q: Which benefits will TFGs get from AL3?
A: The main benefits are:
- support for travel for a number of participants per TFG
- copies of handouts/proceedings, etc.
- provision of the meeting rooms, organisation of the event, etc.
- AL3 branding
- spreading of the scientific results of the TFG work
Q: Will TFGs' life span over the whole AL3 duration?
A: In principle, no. TFG's proposals are submitted in response to a
single Technical Forum call, and their life matches the Technical
Forum's one. But, successful TFGs may re-iterate the proposal to
the subsequent Technical Forum, and could be accepted by the
Scientific Committee and the Program Chairs, provided that there is
a good reason to repeat the TFG meeting.
Q: Should TFG Chair form an Organising Committee for the first
proposal?
A: In principle, this is not necessary. It can be easily done during
the negotiation and preparation stages.
Q: Is there any limit to the number of TFG proposals that a single
researcher / group may submit to a Technical Forum call?
A: In principle, no. A single researcher / group may participate /
submit multiple proposals, and also present different proposals in
response to two different Technical Forum calls. However, the SC
and the PCs will ensure that the contributions of any proponent /
participant will not exceed some reasonable limit.
Q: Should TFG meeting follow a pre-fixed format?
A: Not at all. As far as ALIII-TFC2 is concerned, the only "format" is
either the half-day or full-day duration -- but, also this limit
could be negotiated in case of need. Instead, TFGs and their Chair are
required to commit to some task, as specified above.
Q: "Original formats or modalities"? What does this mean, any examples?
A: Possible formats to be used for TFGs might be:
- Blue-sky brainstorming sessions exploring new fields of
application or theory.
- Cross-domain or cross-community events with mixed presentations
from a range of stakeholders/communities to explore commonalities
and potential joint-work.
- Challenge events where particular frameworks, tools or methods
are applied to sample problems to explore their utility,
expressiveness or other properties: advancing the state of the
art and understanding of technology application issues.
- An intensive working event to unify models/events or theories in
a particular domain - providing a basis for common terms of
reference, structures and frameworks, identifying gaps in current
knowledge.
... however we hope that the community will come up with further
creative uses of the TFGs to push the research area further
ahead!
Location
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The Second AgentLink III Technical Forum will be held in Ljubljana,
Slovenia. Details on location will follow soon, and will be available
through the AL3 Web site.
Dates
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TFG Proposal Submission: 31 December 2004
TFG Preliminary Notification: 15 January 2005
AL3-TF2 Preliminary Programme: 31 January 2005
AL3-TF2 Takes Place: 28 February - 2 March 2005
Contacts
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- Matjaz Gams, Andrea Omicini, Paolo Petta (AL3-TF2 Forum Chairs)
tf2-chair@agentlink.org
- Andrea Omicini (AL3-WP5 "Technical Forum" Coordinator)
wp5@agentlink.org, Andrea.Omicini@agentlink.org
Organisation
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Forum Chair
Andrea Omicini (Universita' di Bologna a Cesena)
Forum Co-chairs
Matjaz Gams (University of Ljubljana)
Paolo Petta (OFAI and Medical University of Vienna, Austria)
Forum Local Liasons
Mili Bauer (University of Ljubljana)
Matjaz Gams (University of Ljubljana)
Mitja Lasic (University of Ljubljana)
Forum Organisers
Peter McBurney (University of Liverpool)
Catherine Atherton (University of Liverpool)
Scientific Committee (* to be confirmed)
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* Fabio Bellifemine (TILab, Italy)
Ivan Bratko (University of Ljubljana)
Monique Calisti (Whitestein Technologies, Switzerland)
Jacques Calmet (Universitat Karlsruhe)
Cristiano Castelfranchi (ISTC/CNR Roma, Italy)
Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
* Frank Dignum (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands)
* Barbara Dunin-Keplicz (Warsaw University, Poland)
Rino Falcone (ISTC/CNR Roma, Italy)
Marie-Pierre Gleizes (University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France)
Matthias Klusch (DFKI, Germany)
Manolis Koubarakis (Technical University of Crete, Greece)
Michael Luck (University of Southampton, UK)
Peter McBurney (University of Liverpool)
John-Jules Ch. Meyer (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands)
* Jean-Pierre Muller (CIRAD, France)
Pablo Noriega (IIIA, Spain)
Sascha Ossowski (Universidad Rey Carlos, Madrid, Spain)
Terry Payne (University of Southampton)
Michal Pechoucek (Czech Technical University, Czech Republic)
Stefan Poslad (Queen Mary, University of London, UK)
Alessandro Ricci (Universita' di Bologna a Cesena, Italy)
Giovanni Rimassa (Whitestein Technologies, Switzerland)
Michael Rovatsos (Technische Universitat Munchen, Germany)
* Wiebe van der Hoek (University of Liverpool, UK)
Steven Willmott (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Valentina Tamma (University of Liverpool, UK)
Mirko Viroli (Universita' di Bologna a Cesena, Italy)
Franco Zambonelli (Universita' di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy)