On an Analysis of Trends Concerning Agent-Based
Modeling
in the Social Science with Web Mining Approach
Kazunari Ishida, Toshizumi Ohta
mactwist@oak.dti.ne.jp, ohta@is.uec.ac.jp
We collect documents concerning agent-based modeling
in the social science on the Internet, and analyze them with term relation
frequency (TRF) method. In order to collect various types of documents concerning
the social science, we develop web robot for specified types of documents
on the Internet. Based on the collection and analysis, we try to provide
digital commons concerning the agent-based modeling.
Researchers who have various backgrounds are trying to
capture complexity behavior of systems. Due to the operational capability
of agent-based model, they have recognized the availability of the model
and have applied their researches. However, systematization of the results
of researches across many fields is a difficult problem because of the unique
characteristics of each research objective. In addition, systematization
work cannot realistically be done by hand, because the amount of documentation
is enormous.
Fortunately, because of the development of information
technology, we can easily collect and analyze digital documents by computer
and network. Our method and system enable researchers realize the collection
and analysis easily. The analysis method TRF is a statistical analysis method
for statistical data concerning term relations in documents, and it makes
them recognize the degrees of commonality and originality among documents
across multiple interdisciplinary academic areas. According to the results
of our analysis with the collection and analysis, they may provide digital
commons concerning the agent-based modeling in the social science.Employing
the TRF method with hierarchical clustering, we found and analyze four categories
concerning agent based modeling on the Internet, such as Formal Logic, Platform
architecture, Object & Protocol, and DAI, Complexity, & Organization
Theory. The contents in the category of Platform Architecture tend to be
comprehensive for agent based modeling, because they are concerned with basic
mechanism for managing agents. That of DAI, Complexity, & Organization
Theory tend to be diverse around agent based modeling, due to the nature
of domain specific targets, such as biological pheromone, organization, and
society, and so forth. The trend of Formal
Logic is to describe norms and rules in an organization with formal logic
and to analyze phenomenon in it. The trend in Platform Architecture is to
develop the architecture for implementing and managing agents for application.
The trend of Object & Protocol is to define standard format for describing
agents' status and communication between them. The trend of DAI, Complexity,
& Organization Theory is to analyze complex phenomenon from biological
level to social level and to develop practical information
system such as CSCW. The clarification of trends let us understand the relations
between our researches and the others.
The TRF method also reveals similarity and dissimilarity
among documents that hierarchical clustering can 't detect, whether the documents
are in the same category or not. According to the results, it may be a start
point to define a guideline for development in the area of agent based modeling
in the social science.