Argumentation in Agreement Technologies

摘要

Argumentation theory provides formal models for resolution of conflicts, and thus can be seen to a play a central role in the reasoning involved in arriving at agreements. This special issue is composed of two papers that formalize key issues relevant to the use of argumentation in agreement technologies.' Such technologies refer to computer systems in which autonomous software agents negotiate with one another in order to come to mutually acceptable agreements. These technologies thus need to be underpinned by formal models of negotiation, as well as provide for assessments of the provenance of information exchanged in the course of arriving at agreements so as to provide some measure of the relative quality of the information exchanged.