Chapter 17 Intelligent Software Agents.ppt

Marakas: Decision Support Systems, 2nd Edition ? 2003, Prentice-Hall Chapter 17: Intelligent Software Agents Decision Support Systems in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition by George M. Marakas 17-1: A World of Delegation and Agency As in life, we delegate many computer tasks to “agents” that act in our behalf. Intelligent software agents allow untrained consumers to access systems and networks they would otherwise be kept from. Many of these run in the background like this task scheduler. Some Characters Used to Represent Agents There are all Kinds of Agents The previous slide showed a number of characters that have been used to represent software-based agents developed through Microsoft Agent. Many agent-based programs are available on the Internet. The next slide shows one of the large collection of agents available at The Agentry () The Home Page of The AgentryMany agents and agent-based programs are available here. Agency Diversification and Personalization Long-term developments in the area of information exchange are moving toward increasing diversification. This, in turn, allows for personalization of information exchange through use of an agent. Once tuned to personal wishes, the agent will allow the user to save the time and money ordinarily required to search for the information. Types of Agency We can think of agency as the techniques and applications to personalize processes in the online marketplace. The three types of agents that are currently or will be needed in the future are: Supplier-driven agency, which are “push” technologies. User-driven agency, which are “pull” technologies. An agency that makes the two converge is an intermediary service. Predicted Structure of the Online Marketplace 17-2: What is an Intelligent Software Agent? To assist in organizing the characteristics of agents, we can conceptualize them as members of three primary divisions: Agent theory – answers the question of what an agent is as well as the mathematics for repres