Symgroup: Applying Social Agents in a Group Interaction System

Abstract

This paper introduces the idea of social agents, that is, agents whose goals are to maintain or improve the social context of a group, while working with a groupware system. We discuss Symgroup, a discussion tool augmented with three social agents, one that implements a Symlog agent, that analyses the participant's behavior, and two others that implement ad hoc theories about attitudes toward the discussion.