From: derek gatherer (dgatherer2002@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Mon 02 Feb 2004 - 19:54:01 GMT
M2M2
Second "Model to Model" workshop:
Comparing and combining agent-based models with each
other,
and with other models
Workshop to be held on 14 and 15 September 2004,
Valladolid, Spain
In association with the second ESSA conference
Aims and Topic
In recent years there has been an explosion of
published literature utilising Multi-
Agent-Based Simulation (MABS) to study social,
biological and artificial systems.
However, despite the plethora of novel models and
interesting results it is rare that
models are compared, built-on or transferred between
researchers. It would seem
there is a dearth of "model-to-model" analysis.
The second M2M workshop, M2M2, is aimed at gathering
researchers in MABS who
are interested in understanding and furthering the
transferability of knowledge
between Multi-Agent Based Simulation models and
beyond. As in the first M2M
workshop (Marseille, France, March-April 2003), papers
are invited reporting
comparisons and validations involving two or more
models, at least one being an
agent-based model.
Understanding complex systems often seems to
necessitate the use of more than one
model. By specifically comparing models a better view
of what modelling brings to
the understanding of (real and artificial) societies
may be facilitated. The union of two
or more models with apparently incompatible levels of
abstraction, comparisons of
results from related studies, and the description of
model findings in ways allowing
others to check and replicate them, all require the
development of methods that
improve rigor and reproducibility.
Approaches of interest include but are not limited to:
* Rewriting models that others have described in
papers so as to understand
them more deeply and reproduce the stated results;
* Composition of models where different scales are
inter-related in a larger
model - the results of one model being used in the
other;
* Aligning of models: a comparison of different models
that announce the same
type of results, so as to evaluate their actual
similarities;
* Comparison of different models based on their
fitness to a set of data,
accumulated through field studies or experiments;
* Using one model as a post-hoc summary or abstraction
of another model's
results; Constraining the scope of an existing model
to enable more powerful
techniques to be applied in a different computational
framework;
* Using models with different structures and
assumptions to confirm each
other's results;
* Determining what to do when two models give results
that contradict each
other.
* Constructing and using taxonomies or description
schemas for use in
comparing or combining MABS models.
At the first M2M workshop, two specific issues were
addressed:
(1) How can different multi-agent models best be
compared? (What kinds of
comparison are feasible, and how can comparisons be
useful?)
(2) Is it possible to transmit the structure of a
model and its results among researchers
through papers, or should we look for other means of
transmission?
The meeting proved that the issues at stake seemed
fundamental for many
practitioners. Most papers addressed the replication
of models through alignment:
comparing different level of aggregation describing
the same system and evaluating
the differences and similarities between centralised
models and distributed ones;
checking the influence of rationality at different
result levels, or trying to integrate
several forms of rationality. Other papers addressed
the issue of replication and
concluded here that there are considerable conceptual
and practical difficulties in
replicating others' work, but doing so can be most
enlightening.
A number of papers have been published in a resulting
special issue in
JASSS (http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/6/4/5.html)
Authors wishing to
submit a paper to M2M2 are advised to refer to this
issue, although
it is not representative of all possible approaches on
the
topic. Following M2M, this new workshop will hopefully
bring together
an international community and produce new frameworks
to look at
agent-based simulation results.
Date and Venue
The M2M2 workshop will be held in association with the
2004 ESSA conference, as a
1 1/2 day workshop on the 14th and 15th of September
2004 in Valladolid, Spain.
The same format will be kept for presentation, 45
minutes being given to each
participant to present their paper.
Call for Papers
Send paper by email by April 15, to:
Nick Gotts (n.gotts@macaulay.ac.uk) or
Guillaume Deffuant (guillaume.deffuant@cemagref.fr).
Papers should be sized between 10 and 20 pages and
will be selected through peer
review. Contributors wishing to submit demos, models,
or other material with their
paper are invited to contact a member of the
organising committee.
Organising committee
Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
Guillaume Deffuant
Nick Gotts
Juliette Rouchier
Local organisation
Cesareo Hernandez Iglesias
Program committee (to be confirmed)
Rob Axtell, Francois Bousquet, Paul Davidsson, Marco
Janssen, Christophe Le Page,
Scott Moss, Mario Paolucci, Javier Pajares, Adolfo
Lopez, David Hales, Bruce
Edmonds, Frederic Amblard, Bill McKelvey, Luis
Antunes, Olivier Barreteau, Matt
Hare, Thierry Faure, Thomas Brenner, Wander Jager,
Catholijn Jonker.
________________________________________________________________________
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