Agent mediated trading in a 3D e-tourism environment

ABSTRACT

3D Electronic Institutions integrate a multi-agent system methodology for arbitrary e-Commerce applications with immersive collaborative 3D environments. This approach facilitates the development of the social and immersive 3D e-Tourism Environment "itchy feet" with the principal goal of developing an instrument to support the complex interaction patterns of providers and consumers in an e-Tourism setting. In particular, these providers and consumers, either humans or software agents, are members of a heterogeneous society cohabiting in a multi-agent based 3D virtual world. Conceptually speaking, "itchy feet" comprises three layers, i) the multi-agent system layer, ii) the middle-ware layer and iii) the visualization layer. In this paper we focus on the multi-agent system layer and concentrate on considerations for designing and implementing the auctioning and trading components of "itchy feet".

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
        I.2.11 Distributed Artificial Intelligence
            Subjects: Multiagent systems

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
e-tourism, electronic institutions, multi-agent systems, virtual worlds