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                              Second Call for Contributions and Participation 
                                 for the ECAI'96 Workshop on 
	 	                 *Modelling Conflicts in AI*

                                       to be held at the 

                                12th European Conference on AI
                                      August 12-16, 1996 
                                      Budapest, Hungary 

Conflicting situations are not only a driving force in nature they are
also the entry points for many investigations in AI. Especially
conflict resolution techniques and conflict management approaches are
studied in AI-subfields like Expert Systems, Planning, Design, Diagnosis,
Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Representation, Natural Language
Processing, and intensively in Distributed AI and  Multi-Agent Systems, 
Formal Models of Rational Action, CSCW, Concurrent Engineering and  HCI. 
Though the research on argumentation, resolution and
management of conflicts grows the essential question about what a
conflict is, remains misty. For example, should conflict be meant 
as an exclusively inter-individual phenomenon? Or, as an intra-individual 
one also?
The aim of this workshop is to bring
together researchers from different subfields of AI as well as ajoint
disciplines (such as Computer Simulation Study of Social Dynamics 
or Game-theory) to present and to discuss the following questions, which
in their kernel ask for a "computational model" of conflicts:

       What is a conflict? 
             .... in general, in practice, in technical terms .... 
         e.g.:
         - What is the function/role of conflicts, 
           both at the intra-individual and at the inter-individual level?

       What are the basic ingredients of conflict? 
             .... knowledge, values, goals, desires .... 
         e.g.:
         - How are conflicts possible, why do they emerge, 
           what are their grounds (e.g., at the intra-individual level, bounded
           rationality, contrary-to-duty obligations, etc.)?

       How can conflicts be modeled? 
             .... formally, technically, in an application .... 

       How can conflicts be handled by machines? 
             .... recognized, avoided, solved, managed .... 
         e.g.:
         - What type of implications/consequences the existence of
           conflicts should have with regard to an agent modelling and 
           architecture?

Contributions with the focus on  conflict resolution, management,
or argumentation, are equally welcome, yet the notion of conflict must 
be discussed in detail.

The workshop will have an interdisciplinary character. Not only by
touching various fields related with AI (Like Psychology, Sociology
and Organizational Sciences) but also by offering AI-interdisciplinary
interactions in the sense that it spans over different subfields in
AI. It follows the line of several IJCAI and AAAI-Workshops on
Conflict Management and Resolution. However, it is our intention to
dive into the very meaning of conflict and its modelling in AI
technologies.

Hence, the workshop advisory board represented by: 

   Frances M.T. Brazier         	(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL)
   Rosaria Conte                 	(IP-CNR, I)
   Oliver Corby                 	(INRIA, F)
   Steve Easterbrook            	(NASA/WVU Software IV&V Facility, USA)
   George R. Kiss               	(Open University, GB)  
   Mark Klein                   	(Penn State University, USA)
   Wolfgang Nejdl			(University of Hannover, D)
   Jeff Rosenschein            		(Hebrew University, IL)
   Mario Tokoro                 	(Keio University, J)

span in their competences a broad field of diverse views of conflict.

*Organizationals

In order to take part in a real workshop instead of a mini-conference the
participants will be encouraged to give their talks in parts, focusing
on the following mottos:

       Conflicts in AI: Basic definitions 
       Triggers of Conflicts: Basic ingredients 
       Abstract Conflicts: Basic models 
       Conflict on Machine: Basic technologies 
       Agents in Conflict: Basic architectures

The speakers should give a distributed presentation of their
contributions with the intention to work on a map for each of the
topics, so that in the end a landscape of definitions, ingredients,
models and techniques of and for conflicts will be developed. A list
of questions to be discussed during the workshop and the accepted
extended abstracts will be distributed to all the authors before the
workshop so that they can take into account the others' papers and
these questions in their own talk and full paper preparation.

- -Important to know

       The workshop is a one-day workshop taking place at the 
              12th or 13th August 1996 in Budapest, Hungary. 
       It is restricted to 30 active participants . 
       ALL workshop participants must be registered at the ECAI main 
              conference. There is an additional workshop fee of 50 ECU. 

- -How to apply

       Send an Email-of-intent NOW. 
       Send a four page extended abstract by March 15th 1996 to the organizers.
          EMail submission is highly preferred (if possible, in
          postcript format). The papers should include a separate
          title page containing the authors' complete contact information, a
          short abstract, and a list of keywords (if possible, the discipline 
          or the AI-subfield should be indicated). Each paper will be reviewed
          by at least 3 reviewers.
       Notification of acceptance will be sent by April 15th 1996 
       Final full paper for the workshop notes is due May 15th 1996 

- -Remarks:

       Those wishing to attend without presenting a paper should send to the 
          organizers a brief summary of their reasons for interest in the 
          workshop. Note that attendance will, of necessity, be limited. 
       We plan to edit a booklet on the workshop contributions, once rewritten
           by the authors for taking into account the workshop discussions. 


*Workshop Organizers

H.Juergen MUELLER
FB 3 - Comp. Sc. Dep.      
University of Bremen          
P.O. Box 33 04 40
D-28334 Bremen (GERMANY)
Tel: + 49 421 218 2449 (office)
Tel: + 49 421 218 7090 (secr.)
Fax: + 49 421 218 7196
EMail:  hjm@informatik.Uni-Bremen.de

Rose DIENG
ACACIA Project
INRIA Centre de Sophia Antipolis           
2004, Route des Lucioles BP 93 
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex (FRANCE)
Tel: +33 93 65 78 10 (office)
Tel: +33 93 65 77 80 (secr.)
Fax: +33 93 65 77 83
Email:Rose.Dieng@sophia.inria.fr

For questions and input, please do not hesitate to contact: Juergen

The web page of this document is:
http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~hjm/CfP.ecai.html
More about Ecai96-workshops could be found at:
http://www.dfki.uni-sb.de/ecai96/accepted-workshops.html