In-Context Information Management Through Adaptive Collaboration of Intelligent Agents

Abstract

Although the number and availability of electronic information sources are increasing, current information technology requires manual manipulation and user-specifi cation of all details. Once accessed, information must be fi ltered in the context of the user's task. Current systems lack the ability to get contextual information or use it to automate fi ltering. At Carnegie Mellon University, we have been engaged in the RETSINA project, which aims to develop a reusable multiagent software infrastructure that allows heterogeneous agents on the Internet, possibly developed by di fferent designers, to collaborate with each other to manage information in the context of user-specfii ed tasks. In this chapter, we will provide a brief overview of the whole system and then focus on its capability for in-context information management.