FW: M2M2 - Model-to-Model Workshop - Deadline Extension

[Stephen Guerin]

Interesting conference on the model docking issue.

If you're keeping score at home, we started with B2B in '98, moved to P2P in
2000 and now we're thinking about M2M...Any wagers on the next one? :-)

-S

____________________________________________________
http://www.redfish.com    [hidden email]
624 Agua Fria Street      office: [phone]
Santa Fe, NM 87501        mobile: [phone]

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Gotts [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 4:13 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: M2M2 - Model-to-Model Workshop - Deadline Extension


Please accept the organisers' apologies if you receive multipl copies of
this DEADLINE EXTENSION.

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

****************************************************
FURTHER DEADLINE EXTENSION: NEW DEADLINE 24 May 2004
****************************************************


NOTE: All those who have already submitted papers are welcome to submit
updated versions
by the new deadline. Please accept the organisers' apologies for the delay
in reviewing
your papers due to the deadline extension.

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 May 1, to:
     Nick Gotts ([hidden email]) or
     Guillaume Deffuant ([hidden email]).
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.


Nicholas M. Gotts
The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen AB15 8QH
Scotland, UK
Tel: [phone] ext. 2229
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [hidden email]
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/fearlus