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A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department...

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A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer-Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan
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Page 1: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer-Help Environment

Julita VassilevaComputer Science Department

University of Saskatchewan

Page 2: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

ARIES Lab at Department of Comp Science at the U of S

• Jim Greer• Gord McCalla• John Cooke• Julita Vassileva• Ralph Deters

• Chhaya Mudgal

• Vive Kumar

• Diego Zapata

• Mike Winter

• Lori Kettel

• Kamal Elbashir

• Shawn Grant

• Kevin Kostuik

Page 3: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

Adaptation in a Distributed Environment Finding an Appropriate Resource

?

Key Problems:• location of resources (human or electronic)• matching resources to need• motivation to participate

Page 4: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

I-Help: a Peer Help Environment in University Class

Why?

• Peer help is inexpensive

• Encourages sense of community

• The helper also learns

Page 5: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

I-Help: a Peer Help Environment in University Class

How?

• Asynchronous (discussion forum): CPR

• On-line resources created by students

• Synchronous help: PHelpS

Page 6: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

Multi-Agent Architecture

Page 7: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

User Model: a Resource Repository for the Personal Agent

• Knowledge• Social Capabilities• Relationships• Time• Currency

Matchmaking ...

User ResourcesData Base

Data Base

Data Base

Page 8: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The Issue of Motivation• Why would busy people offer help?

– to build relationships / obligations– if it’s part of organizational culture– if there is a reward

• class participation points ...

• performance review

• Adding extrinsic motivation– currency in exchange for help???

• Money reflects real social costs and benefits

Page 9: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

A Global View: Agent Economy

Questions:• What economy type: barter or market?• What real world equivalent for virtual currency?• Zero-sum game or cumulative w.r.t. some resource?• Social control and protection mechanisms?

Page 10: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

An experiment (fall 99)

• Student peer help for sale!!– 65 students in 3rd year Comp.Sci. class– the I-Help architecture engineered for this class– students use I-Help throughout the class– helpers get paid, helpees pay– rate of pay negotiable (by agents)

Page 11: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

User-Agent Relationship

• What to do if the user doesn’t keep the contracts made by her agent?– Agent negotiates with or

persuades the user to adopt some goal

– User has to pay a penalty: I.e. Agent punishes the user

Page 12: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

Human-Agent Interaction

Anthropomorphic Agents:

– How much autonomy?

– What type of relationship?

– Agent “Persona” ?

Page 13: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

Supporting Communication

• Finding peers who are ready, willing and able to help

• Supporting effective interaction and collaboration

• Motivating users to help

• A new dimension of communication: between human world and agent world

Page 14: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

Possible Business Applications

In workplace environments:• Team formation: locating competent &

available employees• Supporting training on the job, just in time• Establishing peer-help networks,

reinforcing the “weak ties” in the company• Capturing and developing repositories of

organizational knowledge

Page 15: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

More Business Applications…

Enhancing customer support and helpdesk services:

• Automatic dispatching of help-requests to the competent helpdesk employees who are available and managing the waiting lists

• Offloading helpdesk employees by shifting most of the requests to the customers

Page 16: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

• Domain: Helping secretaries to work with MS Office

• Personal Agent (IKE) provides help to the user by:– Finding the related MS Help entry– Finding related materials on the web– Finding a peer helper who is competent and

currently on-line to help with the problem

En Example Session:

Page 17: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The users enter their competence in their user profiles when they use the system first

Page 18: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The user needs help – she calls IKE, her agent

Page 19: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The user types her question

Page 20: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The agent has identified the topics from the question and searches for related materials on the Web

Page 21: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The agent has found the related MS-Word help entry

Page 22: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The user wants peer help: IKE finds a list of people who are on-line and know about the topic of the question; the user has to select one

Page 23: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The agent of the selected helper alerts him that someone needs his help

Page 24: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The agent of the person asking for help tells her that the selected helper has agreed to help

Page 25: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The help session happens: The users talk via a chat tool

Page 26: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

The chat has finished, each partner has to evaluate the session and the other one; The results of the evaluation are used to update the user profiles

Page 27: A Multi-Agent Design of a Peer- Help Environment Julita Vassileva Computer Science Department University of Saskatchewan.

IKE has done his job and thanks the user for agreeing to help


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