[agents] ArgMAS 2009: Initial Call for Papers

[Peter McBurney]

WITH APOLOGIES FOR MULTIPLE POSTINGS


INITIAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

    to the
Sixth International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ArgMAS 
2009)



Budapest, Hungary, May 11 or 12, 2009
In Conjunction with AAMAS 2009



Workshop web site:

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/irahwan/argmas/argmas09/



ArgMAS series web site:


http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/irahwan/argmas/




Overview

Argumentation can be abstractly defined as the interaction of different 
arguments for and against some conclusion. Over the last few years, 
argumentation has been gaining increasing importance in multi-agent systems, 
mainly as a vehicle for facilitating "rational interaction" (i.e., 
interaction which involves the giving and receiving of reasons). This is 
because argumentation provides tools for designing, implementing and 
analysing sophisticated forms of interaction among rational agents. 
Argumentation has made solid contributions to the practice of multi-agent 
dialogues. Application domains include: legal disputes, business 
negotiation, labor disputes, team formation, scientific inquiry, 
deliberative democracy, ontology reconciliation, risk analysis, scheduling, 
and logistics. A single agent may also use argumentation techniques to 
perform its individual reasoning because it needs to make decisions under 
complex preferences policies, in a highly dynamic environment.

This workshop builds on the following successful workshops:

  a.. ArgMAS 2008 to be held in conjunction with AAMAS 2008, in Estoril, 
Portugal, May 12, 2008 (attracted 21 participants)
  b.. ArgMAS 2007 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2007, in Honolulu, Hawai'i, 
USA (attracted 22 participants)
  c.. ArgMAS 2006 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2006, at Future University, 
Hakodate, Japan (attracted 21 participants)
  d.. ArgMAS 2005 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2005, at Universiteit 
Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands (attracted 31 participants)
  e.. ArgMAS 2004 held in conjunction with AAMAS 2004, at Columbia 
University, New York, USA (attracted 20 participants)
The workshop will be concerned with the use of the concepts, theories, 
methodologies, and computational models of argumentation in building 
autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. The workshop will solicit papers 
looking at both theory and practice. In particular, the workshop aims at 
bridging the gap between the vast amount of work on argumentation theory and 
the practical needs of multi-agent systems research.


Topics

We solicit papers dealing with, but not limited to, the following areas:

  a.. Computational models for argumentation
  b.. Argumentation-based decision making
  c.. Argumentation-based joint deliberation
  d.. Argumentation-based persuasion
  e.. Argumentation-based inquiry
  f.. Argumentation-based negotiation and conflict resolution
  g.. Argumentation and risk assessment
  h.. Argumentation for legal reasoning
  i.. Argumentation for electronic democracy
  j.. Argumentation for coordination, cooperation and team formation
  k.. Argumentation and game theory in multi-agent systems
  l.. Human-agent argumentation
  m.. Argumentation and preferences modelling
  n.. Strategic behaviour in argument-based dialogues
  o.. Deception, trust, reputation in argument-based interaction
  p.. Computational complexity of argumentation dialogues
  q.. Properties of argumentation dialogues (termination, success, etc.)
  r.. Hybrid argumentation-based models
  s.. Implemented argumentation-based multi-agent systems
  t.. New application areas
As in previous ArgMAS workshops, the organizers will encourage the 
appropriate workshop atmosphere with the use of Q&A periods and a panel 
discussion on a current topic.  We are also planning to appoint designated 
responders for accepted papers (as is usual in Philosophy workshops), in 
orderto better focus questions and feedback to paper presenters.



Important Dates

Tentative Dates (subject to confirmation):

      Submission Deadline: 25 January 2009
      Notification of Acceptance/Rejection: 25 February 2009
      Camera Ready Due: 5 March 2009

      Workshop: 11 or 12 May 2009




Publication

The proceedings of ArgMAS will be printed and distributed at the workshop.

As with previous ArgMAS workshops, it is planned to publish revised versions 
of the accepted full papers in an edited book as part of the Springer 
Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) series. This publication 
would have an ISBN number, and would be available both in printed form, as 
well as electronically on the SpringerLink online library.



Submission Procedure

Contributors may submit either full papers (no longer than 18 pages) or a 
two page position statement that outlines their interests, background, and 
discussion of an aspect of the workshop theme.

Authors are encouraged to submit their papers in the Springer Lecture Notes 
in Computer Science (LNCS) style, since this will be the format required for 
the planned post-proceedings book. Formatting instructions, as well as the 
style and sample files, can be found here: 
http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html

Papers must be submitted through a dedicated EasyChair site, which is still 
under construction.  Details will be available in due course on the workshop 
webpage:

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/irahwan/argmas/argmas09/



At least one author of each accepted papers must register for the workshop.

Organising Committee

Co-Chairs:

  a.. Peter McBurney (Corresponding Organiser)
  Department of Computer Science
  Ashton Building, University of Liverpool
  Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
  mcburney [at] liverpool.ac.uk
  b.. Simon Parsons
  Department of Computer and Information Science
  Brooklyn College
  City University of New York
  2900 Bedford Avenue
  Brooklyn, 11210 NY
  c.. Iyad Rahwan
        Faculty of Informatics
        British University in Dubai
        P.O.Box 502216, Dubai
        United Arab Emirates
       (Fellow) School of Informatics
        University of Edinburgh
        Edinburgh, EH8 9LE
        UK

  d.. Nicolas Maudet
  LAMSADE
  Universite Paris 9 Dauphine
  75775 Paris Cedex 16
  France
ArgMAS Steering Committee

  a.. Antonis Kakas (University of Cyprus, Cyprus)
  b.. Nicolas Maudet (Universite Paris Dauphine, France)
  c.. Peter McBurney (University of Liverpool, UK)
  d.. Pavlos Moraitis (Paris Descartes University, France)
  e.. Simon Parsons (City University of New York, USA)
  f.. Iyad Rahwan (British University in Dubai, UAE, and University of 
Edinburgh, UK)
  g.. Chris Reed (University of Dundee, UK)


Program Committee

The following people have agreed to serve on the Program Committee for 
ArgMAS 2009:

  a.. Leila Amgoud, IRIT, Toulouse, France
  b.. Katie Atkinson, University of Liverpool, UK
  c.. Trevor Bench-Capon, University of Liverpool, UK
  d.. Jamal Bentahar, Concordia University, Canada
  e.. Guido Boella, Università di Torino, Italy
  f.. Carlos Chesnevar, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
  g.. Frank Dignum, Utrecht University, Netherlands
  h.. Yannis Dimopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
  i.. Sylvie Doutre, University of Toulouse 1, France
  j.. Paul E Dunne, University of Liverpool, UK
  k.. Rogier van Eijk, Utrecht University, Netherlands
  l.. Anthony Hunter, University College, London, UK
  m.. Antonis Kakas, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
  n.. Nicolas Maudet, Universite Paris Dauphine, France
  o.. Peter McBurney, University of Liverpool, UK
  p.. Jarred McGinnis, London, UK
  q.. Sanjay Modgil, King's College, London, UK
  r.. Pavlos Moraitis, Paris Descartes University, France
  s.. Tim Norman, University of Aberdeen, UK
  t.. Nir Oren, King's College, London, UK
  u.. Fabio Paglieri, ISTC-CNR, Roma IT
  v.. Simon Parsons, City University of New York, USA
  w.. Philippe Pasquier, Simon Fraser University, Canada
  x.. Enric Plaza, Spanish Scientific Research Council, Spain
  y.. Henry Prakken, Utrecht University, & University of Groningen, The 
Netherlands
  z.. Iyad Rahwan, British University in Dubai, UAE, & University of 
Edinburgh, UK
  aa.. Sarvapali Ramchurn, University of Southampton, UK
  ab.. Chris Reed, University of Dundee, UK
  ac.. Michael Rovatson, University of Edinburgh, UK
  ad.. Hajime Sawamura, Niigata University, Japan
  ae.. Guillermo Simari, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
  af.. Elizabeth Sklar, City University of New York, USA
  ag.. Katia Sycara, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
  ah.. Francesca Toni, Imperial College, London, UK
  ai.. Leon van der Torre, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  aj.. Paolo Torroni, Università di Bologna, Italy
  ak.. Bart Verheij, University of Groningen, Netherlands
  al.. Gerard Vreeswijk, Utrecht University, Netherlands
  am.. Douglas Walton, University of Winnipeg, Canada
  an.. Michael Wooldridge, University of Liverpool, UK
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