Abstract:
This paper identifies an approach for designing
software agents to support collaborative applications. It
proposes that agent supported collaborative systems can
be economically built using reusable agents. The paper
describes an approach to define generic agents based on
a metamodel, which can be used to model a wide range of
applications. To do this the paper defines a collaborative
metamodel and identifies generic agents based on the
metamodel concepts. The paper then describes a
methodology that defines systems as object models in
terms of the metamodel concepts. The objects in the model
are then implemented as components, often using a
workspace system. It then supports each component
object with the generic agent that corresponds to the
component concept.
