C a l l     f o r     P a p e r s


International Workshop on Agent-Based Information Systems (ABIS2000)
(http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/awkng/abis2000.htm)

in conjunction with

11th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA2000)
(http://www.dexa.org/dexa00)

September 4-8, 2000

Greenwich, United Kingdom

Workshop proceedings to be published by IEEE Computer Society Press


Objectives
An agent-based information system differs from a conventional information system in its harnessing of software agents for the various operational functions of the information system. The characteristics of software agents such as autonomy, goal-orientedness, collaboration and mobility present new approaches for the development of future information systems. For instance, a agent-based information system may employ an information agent that pro-actively searches for and maintains relevant information on behalf of users or other agents. In e-commerce, agents automate various aspects of a business transaction such as price comparison, negotiation, auction, and brokerages, to name a few. The development of complex large-scale information systems such as distributed/federated databases, heterogeneous databases and semi-structured databases in the future may leverage on the use of software agents to handle various aspects of the system.

The incorporation of agent technology for information systems development is an inherently interdisciplinary technology encompassing approaches, methods and tools from different research disciplines such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Advanced Database and Knowledge Base Systems, Distributed Information Systems, Information Retrieval, Cognitive Sciences and Human Computer Interaction (HCI).

This workshop is particularly aimed at fostering interaction between researchers and practitioners in the information/database systems and agents communities. Topics are but not limited to:

Important Dates
Abstract Submission Deadline   20 February 2000
Paper Submission Deadline   1 March 2000
Notification  30 March 2000
Camera-ready Copy Due  1 May 2000
Workshop Date  September 2000

Program Committee Chair
Wee-Keong Ng  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Geoff Staniford  Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Program Committee
Amitabha Das  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Danny Lange  General Magic, USA
Duen-Ren Liu  National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Ee-Peng Lim  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Feng Wan  North Carolina State University, USA
Hiroyuki Tarumi  Kyoto University, Japan
Jeffrey Tsai  University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Jiming Liu  Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Matthias Klusch  Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Germany
Michael Fisher  Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Mike Wooldridge  Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, UK
Sampath Dhamodaran  Indian Institute of Science, India
Sanjay Madria Kumar  Purdue University, USA
Sun Park  Rutgers University, USA
Yiming Ye  IBM Watson, USA

Paper Submission
The full paper submissions should not be more than 20 pages (double spaced) in length. Papers will be reviewed by at least 3 program committee members for their technical merit, originality, significance, and relevance to the workshop. Please send abstract (no more than 250 words in ASCII text) of the paper via email including title of the paper, authors' names and 3-4 relevant keywords.

We strongly encourage electronic submissions of full paper in plain Postscript or PDF file. The title page must include the name and email address of the contact author. Alternatively, four hard-copies of your paper may be sent to the workshop organizer at the address given below.

Email and snail mail addresses:
Asst Prof Wee-Keong Ng
School of Applied Science
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
Email: awkng@ntu.edu.sg