A Distributed Agent-based Approach to Stabilization of Global Resource Utilization (extended abstract)

Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Towards Emergent Energy Synchronization using Agents

Synchronization of energy consumption is a key determinant for the stabilization of smart energy grids. This paper proposes software agents that locally synchronize the energy usage of appliances to minimize the oscillations in global energy consumption. Agents can manage demand-side devices with periodic operation and synchronize their consumption locally resulting in an emerging global stability of energy consumption. The benefits and challenges of such an approach are discussed in this paper.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Requirements for Reconfigurable Technology: A challenge to Design for Values

With the increasing use of information technology for different societal goals, the demand for flexible and multiple-functionality appliances has risen. Making technology reconfigurable could be a way of achieving this. This working paper is written against the background of a large scale research project developing reconfigurable sensors in order to achieve a continuous and affordable infrastructure for both safety and security (STARS). Our role in the project is to explore the ethical challenges reconfigurability raises for sociotechnical systems like sensor networks. We foresee that reconfigurable technology adds an extra challenge to the identification and specification of functional and nonfunctional requirements for the technology.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Reconfigurable sensor networks: Transforming ethical concerns?

With the increasing use of sensor technology for different societal goals, like security and safety, the demand for multiple and flexible functionality of the sensors is rising. The expectation is that the development of reconfigurable sensors will lead to a continuous and affordable infrastructure. In this note, we undertake a first exploration of the ethical challenges reconfigurability raises for sensor networks, and more generally, for sociotechnical systems.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Analyzing viewpoint diversity in twitter

Information diversity has a long tradition in human history. Recently there have been claims that diversity is diminishing in information available in social networks. On the other hand, some studies suggest that diversity is actually quite high in social networks such as Twitter. However these studies only focus on the concept of source diversity and they only focus on American users. In this paper we analyze different dimensions of diversity. We also provide an experimental design in which an empirical study can be performed to compare different concepts of diversity for Twitter users from different countries.Values and TechnologyTechnology, Policy and Managemen

An Agent-Based Infrastructure for Energy Profile Capture and Management

Accurately and dynamically monitoring energy usage patterns in households forms a first requirement for more efficient and ecofriendly energy management in the future. Monitored energy usage data can be used by power systems engineering—to inform demand-side management systems in the near future term—and in architecture/civil engineering—where it can be used to carry out long-term studies across populations and sectors to estimate future demand and to evaluate prospective (social) policies. This paper presents an agent based prototype of an architecture to meet these needs. The proposed system remains flexible to new functional requirements and adaptable to new edge devices for data collection, as well as offering the potential to ‘close the loop’ and permit remote control of power supplies to individual appliances. Some preliminary analyses of data collected is used to illustrate what may be possible in the longer term.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

A Framework for Developing Agent-Based Distributed Applications (extended abstract)

Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen