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Software agents and agency: A personal information management perspective

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Abstract

This paper considers the concept of agency and the applications of software agents within the field of Personal Information Management (PIM). PIM addresses the complex activities undertaken by individuals when organising their personal information. In the context of Personal Information Management, effective software agents may allow users to obtain information relevant to their tasks, and present it in a form that is directly targeted to the needs of the user.

This paper concentrates on the notion of agency and its direct application to PIM tasks. A user-driven approach to the design of agent-based systems is presented. We argue that agent systems will only be successful if both usersand their tasks act as the bases for the design of such systems. An example task domain (searching the World-Wide Web) is introduced and a taxonomy of Web agents for the domain is discussed. Technical issues raised during the preliminary implementation of Web agents are also introduced.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Brunel University, UB8 3PH, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK

    Robert D. Macredie & Richard J. Keeble

Authors
  1. Robert D. Macredie
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  2. Richard J. Keeble
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Correspondence to Robert D. Macredie or Richard J. Keeble.

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Macredie, R.D., Keeble, R.J. Software agents and agency: A personal information management perspective. Personal Technologies 1, 88–100 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02199214

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