johnson@vaxa.isi.edu (Lewis Johnson) (09/06/90)
Call for Participation
AAAI Spring Symposium
Design of Composite Systems
March 26,27, & 28, 1991
Stanford University
The goal of this symposium is to discuss issues in formally representing
and automatically reasoning about design problems that involve a mix of
physical, software, and human components, i.e., what we will call
composite systems. In particular, we are interested in designing an
artifact that will be added to an existing environment to achieve new
goals (or old goals more efficiently).
In such systems, goal achievement can be viewed as a joint problem
solving process. The artifact specified and produced will be embedded
in a rich and complex physical and social context. In essence, the
difficulty might not be in the specification of the artifact itself, but
instead in reasoning about the complex interaction of the artifact with
the environment. For instance, the artifact by its very presence may
place restrictions of the freedom of action of human agents, change the
pattern of human-human interactions, etc. A designer is thus defining
new roles that agents in the environment will play when interacting with
the artifact.
We propose that there is a common set of problems for specifying and
designing composite systems irrespective of software/hardware/human
distinctions. At least one purpose of the symposium is to bring together
researchers from various fields to explore this claim. We wish to
determine whether techniques developed for the design of software,
hardware, interfaces, organizational processes, etc., can be adapted to
support composite system design, or whether new techniques are needed.
The symposium will examine the following issues in composite system design:
Theoretical Issues
- Determining the division of responsibility for system-wide goals
among the various components.
- Motivating components to abide by their responsibilies; designing for
tolerance of error and of malicious irresponsibility.
- Detecting and resolving conflicts between goals of the different
components of the system.
- Designing the interface between components.
Pragmatic Issues
- What are the limits of this approach? Is it effective? What tools
do we need?
- When is it appropriate (cost-effective) to use this design methodology?
What new burdens does this introduce, and how can these be mitigated?
- How can we ensure the acceptability of the artifacts that we design?
Can acceptability be treated as another goal to be achieved?
- Do we understand the conceptual foundations and techniques well
enough yet to make the approach practical at this time? If not, how
should we go about developing them?
Prospective participants are encouraged to contact a member of the
symposium committee to obtain a more detailed description of the symposium
goals and issues. Participants should then submit a 1 to 4 page
position statement explicitly addressing one or more of the symposium
issues. Descriptions of experimental and empirical results are
especially encouraged. Submissions that identify the practical or
theoretical limits of automated design of composite systems are also
welcome.
Submissions should be sent by electronic mail to johnson@isi.edu by
November 16th. All such submissions will be promptly acknowledged.
If electronic mail is impossible, four paper copies should be sent to
arrive by Nov. 16 to:
Lewis Johnson
USC / ISI, 4676 Admiralty Way,
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695
or fax a copy to (213) 823-6714.
Program Co-Chairs: Martin Feather (feather@isi.edu), Stephen Fickas
(fickas@cs.uoregon.edu), Les Gasser (gasser@pollux.usc.edu),
Lewis Johnson (johnson@isi.edu).