Resolving conflict and inconsistency in norm-regulated virtual organizations

Norm-governed virtual organizations define, govern and facilitate coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in societies of agents. With an explicit account of norms, openness in virtual organizations can be achieved: new components, designed by various parties, can be seamlessly accommodated. We focus on virtual organizations realised as multi-agent systems, in which human and software agents interact to achieve individual and global goals. However, any realistic account of norms should address their dynamic nature: norms will change as agents interact with each other and their environment. Due to the changing nature of norms or due to norms stemming from different virtual organizations, there will be situations when an action is simultaneously permitted and prohibited, that is, a conflict arises. Likewise, there will be situations when an action is both obliged and prohibited, that is, an inconsistency arises. We introduce an approach, based on first-order unification, to det...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Wamberto Weber Vasconcelos, Martin J. Kollingbaum, Timothy J. Norman
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, ATAL 2007, Intelligent Agents, Norm-governed Virtual Organizations, Virtual Organizations