ESAW 2002

The characteristics of software systems are undergoing dramatic changes. We are moving rapidly into the age of ubiquitous information services. Persistent computing systems are being embedded in everyday objects. They interact in an autonomous way with each other to provide us with increasingly complex services and functionalities that we can access at any time from anywhere. As a consequence, not only do the numbers of components of software systems increase; there is also a strong qualitative impact. Software systems are increasingly made up of autonomous, proactive, networked components. These interact with each other in patterns and via mechanisms that can hardly be modeled in terms of classical models of interaction or service-oriented coordination. To some extent, future software systems will exhibit characteristics making them more resemblant of natural systems and societies than of mechanical systems and software architectures.
This situation poses exciting challenges to computer scientists and software engineers. Already, software agents and multi-agent systems are recognised as both useful abstractions and effective technologies for the modeling and building of complex distributed applications. However, little is done with regard to effective and methodic development of complex software systems in terms of multi-agent societies. An urgent need exists for novel approaches to software modeling and software engineering that enable the successful deployment of software systems made up of a massive number of autonomous components, and that allow to control and predict their behaviour. It is very likely that such innovations will exploit lessons from a variety of different scientific disciplines, such as sociology, economics, organisation science, modern thermodynamics, and biology.
The sequel to successful editions in 2000 and 2001, ESAW'02 remains committed to the use of the notion of multi- agent systems as seed for animated, constructive, and highly inter-disciplinary discussions about technologies, methodologies, and tools for the engineering of complex distributed applications. While the workshop places an emphasis on practical engineering issues, it also welcomes theoretical, philosophical, and empirical contributions, provided that they clearly document their connection to the core applied issues.

• analysis, design, development and verification of agent societies
• very large-scale multi-agent systems
• models of complex distributed systems with agents and societies
• coordination models & technologies for engineering of agent societies
• interaction-coordination patterns in agent societies
• inter-disciplinary approaches to engineering of agent societies
• engineering of social intelligence in multi-agent systems
• indirect programming of multi-agent systems
• centralised vs. decentralised social control
• self-organisation in agent societies
• security and trust in agent societies
• middleware infrastructures for agent societies
• studies of information ecosystems
• applications of analyses of entangled behaviour and bizarre systems
• experiences in building and maintaining large agent societies
• insightful analyses of negative results