Supporting small teams in cooperatively building application domain models
Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
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CSCW requires efficient support to distributed teams. Groupware is efficient but rather inflexible, multi-agent systems are more flexible but difficult to implement. OMAS (Open Multi-Agent System) is a multi-agent platform derived from a number of previous research projects and teaching courses. With OMAS we tried to answer the problems of architecture, skill definition, protocol implementation, ontologies, dialog using natural language, and debugging, in such a way that a naive user can develop an application easily. OMAS uses a plug in type of approach offering a model of generic cognitive agent. Agents are of three types: service, personal assistants and transfer. They are organized as coteries, meaning that each agent sees all messages. Agents have separate ontologies and task models. Agents are multi-threaded and can execute several tasks concurrently. Personal assistants have prototype dialogs and vocal interface. OMAS is particularly well suited for supporting CSCWD projects or applications. It can be downloaded from Internet.