1. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 1 Learning Resources Brokerage Systems: an Agent-based Virtual Market Model Nikos Manouselis, Demetrios G. Sampson e-mail:{nikosm,sampson}@iti.gr

2. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 2 short overview  Rationale: learning resources brokerage systems  open issues: pricing and trading aspects  Market modeling of learning resources brokerage systems  actors involved  Agent architecture of market-based brokerage system  agent types  Prototype implementation: auction-based market  scenario of use  interactions protocol  Conclusions

3. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 3 general framework  Education and learning sector  major producer and consumer of digital learning resources with intellectual properties  A number of initiatives around the world launched  to facilitate learning resources publication, search, identification, delivery

4. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 4 different technological aspects  Technologically advanced architectures and systems for learning resources indexing, storing, search, retrieval and delivery  Interoperability frameworks between heterogeneous learning resources  Development of intelligent mechanisms for automation of activities  i.e. related with learning resources management  Development of mechanisms for addressing the commercial aspect of learning resources publication, sharing, trading and reuse  i.e. digital rights management and variable pricing policies

5. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 5 approaches  Learning resources managements systems  EM2 (Sampson & Karampiperis, 2003)  Brokerage systems for sharing learning resources  LOMster (Ternier, Duval & Vandepitte, 2002)  Brokerage systems for exchange and trading learning resources  UNIVERSAL (Brantner, Enzi, Guth, Neumann & Simon, 2001)

6. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 6 exchange and trading: open issues  In typical learning resources brokerage systems human effort is required to perform several tasks  Comparing provision and delivery costs  Negotiate upon specific provision terms  Although users are profiled  Consumer-related preferences are not modeled and exploited  Mechanisms for management of property rights  Study effects on the pricing of learning resources

7. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 7 approach under study…  Market-based modeling of learning resources brokerage system  Actors are players with personal strategies and goals  Market design defines how actors interact  Agent-based analysis, design and development of the brokerage system  Allows for complex software systems implemented as a collection of interactive, autonomous agents  Facilitates the development of automated negotiation, brokering, trading tasks that can save human labor time

8. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 8 market model

9. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 9 participating actors  Producers: learning resources providers who publish learning object advertisements to the mediator role  Consumers: learning resources users (learners, tutors, content providers) who are searching for learning objects  Mediators: representing producers and consumers behaviors and requests in the brokerage system, can play different roles  Simple facilitators of interactions  Proactive brokers of content, such as auctioneers

10. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 10 participating agent types  Assistant Agents: responsible for user requests elicitation, formulation of offers and requests into messages understandable by brokers  Consumer Assistant Agents / Producer Assistant Agents  Broker Agents: represent users in the virtual market, facilitate collection and evaluation of requests and offers, interact with other brokers, responsible for negotiation among parties  Consumer Broker Agents / Producer Broker Agents  Matchmaker: provides mediating services, informing agents about other participants, roles and availability; can also interfere with inter-agents relations, balance workload, coordinate digital rights management, etc.

11. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 11 agent analysis and design

12. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 12 case of study: auction market  Auctions provide a popular, easily analysable market mechanism design  Mechanism for selling goods to members of a pool of bidders  Outcome determines who gets the goods and how much they pay  Simplest form of auction: sealed bid auction  Each bidder makes a single bid and communicates it to the auctioneer  The ‘best’ bid wins (e.g. lower price)

13. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 13 example scenario  One consumer is communicating a request for a learning object to several producers: 1.User expresses initial request to Consumer Assistant 2.Consumer Assistant communicates request to Consumer Broker 3.Consumer Broker requests from Matchmaker Producer Brokers that can serve request 4.Consumer Broker initiates auction requesting offers from all Producer Brokers 5.Each Producer Broker replies with a sealed bid offer 6.Consumer Broker selects the best offer and informs the Consumer Assistant on the proposed offer

14. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 14 user interfaces

15. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 15 interactions

16. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 16 protocol steps

17. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 17 conclusions  Introduced market modeling for learning resources brokerage systems  Introduced agent-based analysis and design  Prototype implementation  Auction-based mechanism  Agents trading learning objects  Promising approach for brokerage systems  Can provide intelligent tools for pricing and digital rights management  Can provide autonomous system components acting on behalf of the user  Prototype should be tested in the context of a real brokerage environment for learning resources

18. University of Piraeus Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas(C.E.R.T.H.) Informatics and Telematics Institute (I.T.I.) N. Manouselis & D.G. Sampson IEEE ICALT 2003 18 Contact Details Nikos Manouselis and Prof. Demetrios Sampson nikosm@iti.gr, sampson@iti.gr Informatics and Telematics Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, 42, Arkadias Street,Athens,GR-15234,Greece and Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems, University of Piraeus 150, Androutsou Street, Piraeus, GR-18534 Greece