A Contract Management Framework for Supervised Interaction
Martin J. Kollingbaum, Timothy J. Norman · 2002
This paper introduces a Normative Agent Architecture as an appropriate contract management framework for Supervised Interaction. Supervised interaction is concerned with the problem of establishing trust between contracting agents in electronic markets. It is designed to put safeguards in place that ensure that errant behaviour in business transactions is either prevented or sanctioned. Supervised Interaction consists of three elements: an organisational framework, a contract specification language and a contract management protocol. The normative agent architecture has to meet certain requirements to allow agents to engage in business transactions according to Supervised Interaction. These requirements are, among others: understanding of normative behaviour specifications within contracts and their correct execution, and goal generation and plan selection based on norms.