However, in the last two decades there has been increasing attention on a new set of problems those dealing with the interactions between multiple computational entities. Such attention started with fairly simple interprocess communication, but has grown to include the much more difficult problems associated with coordination, cooperation, and collaboration between and among computational entities. Such problems are inherently complex, and often involve semantic ambiguities.
These problems are characteristic of a large class of applications associated with real-world information access. While many of these problems are inherently difficult, their solutions promise substantial organizational and commercial benefits.
A real-world example, shown in Figure 1, is a view of a complex order processing system, which involves a large number of humans and computing systems that must interact in various ways. The process embodied in this diagram grew over a long period of time, and essentially without global design or control. The net result is an overly complex system that consists almost entirely of complex and often redundant interactions. A very large majority of the software and the ongoing maintenance involved in the overall system is taken up with these interactions, which until recently included staffs of humans that read the output from one system and typed it in to the next. The overall system is an example of the detrimental costs associated with inadequately considering the coordination and cooperation aspects of large system development.
In this example, as in a large number of similar cases, the degree to
which the coordination, cooperation, and collaboration issues are successfully
managed is the degree to which the overall system is successful. It is
this set of problems, and their solutions, which will shape the future
of computing.
Figure 1. Order Processing System
However, the solutions to these problems currently lack maturity. Perhaps the best approach is to start with the least complex of the problems, the more simple forms of coordination, then work toward more complex models that address cooperation and collaboration.
"Toward Agent-Based Software Engineering for Information-Dependent Enterprise Applications" Steve Laufmann. IEE Proceedings on Software Engineering 144(1): 38-50. January, 1997.
"The Information Marketplace: Achieving Success in Commercial Applications" Steve Laufmann. In Electronic Commerce: Current Research Issues and Applications, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1028, Eds. Nabil Adam and Yelena Yesha, pp. 115-147. Springer-Verlag.
"The Information Marketplace: The Challenge of Information Commerce" Steve Laufmann. Second International Conference on Cooperating Information Systems (CoopIS-94). May, 1994.
"An Organizational Framework for Cooperating Intelligent Information Systems" Mike P. Papazoglou, Steven C. Laufmann, and Timos K. Sellis. International Journal for Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems 1(1):169- 202. March,1992.
"Coarse-Grained Distributed Agents for Transparent Access to Remote Information" Steven C. Laufmann. The Next Generation of Information Systems: From Data to Knowledge, Lecture Notes in AI, p. 223-237. Eds. M. Papazoglou and J. Zeleznikow. Springer-Verlag. 1992.
"Direct End-User Access to Remote Information" Steven C. Laufmann, Richard L. Blumenthal, Laural M. Thompson, and Beth Bowen. Proceedings of the 1991 Conference on Organizational Computing Systems (COCS-91). November, 1991. pp. 16-28.
"Communication and Cooperation Among Coarse-Grained Distributed Agents"
Steven C. Laufmann, Mitchell J. Nathan, Richard L. Blumenthal. AAAI-91
Workshop on Cooperation Among Heterogeneous Intelligent Systems. July,
1991.