Workshop on
Agent-Based Systems for Human Learning and Entertainment (ABSHLE)

overview

Interest in the role of artificial intelligence in interactive systems has grown rapidly in recent years, in part because increasingly powerful consumer hardware makes research-level AI usable in real-world games and/or immersive learning environments. Accompanying this, there has been a sharp escalation in the number of research questions related to the use of agent technologies to shape human experiences in complex environments. A number of tensions accompany the use of agents in these contexts, since the goal is not to simulate autonomous agents for their own sake, but to use them to create an interactive experience with a pre-defined goal for the human user: either to learn a curriculum or to experience an engaging and rich world (or both, in the case of "edutainment"). Unlike fully author-controlled experiences such as such as films and plays, or fully scripted computer-aided instructional systems, dynamic interactive experiences require a world that can appropriately and meaningfully respond to the user---a natural fit for intelligent and believable agents. At the same time, however, system designers want to shape users' experiences, presenting new research challenges to address the interplay between player autonomy and designer intent. Thus, within this area of research, there is a design space that ranges from complete autonomy for agents to complete control for an agent coordinator. One of the goals of this workshop is to foster a dialog among researchers who are exploring the complex tradeoffs that must be made in designing agent systems for education and interactive entertainment, and especially to bring together researchers focusing on autonomous multi-agent systems with those focusing on more centralized agent coordination for this problem.

The aim of the Agent-Based Systems for Human Learning and Entertainment (ABSHLE) workshop is to bring together researchers who are working on agent-based systems to support a variety of interactive applications for human learning and/or entertainment. Within the "learning" realm, these are typically split into two areas: "training", which generally refers to adult learning of job-related skills, frequently but not exclusively in military settings; and "education", which generally refers to child and (young) adult learning in academic settings, including primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. Overlapping with the "entertainment" realm, interactive applications built for learning can either by scripted (i.e., designer-controlled) or user-controlled, reacting in real-time based on a user's interactions. This latter category of "intelligent" interfaces is the primary interest of the ABSHLE workshop. The goal of the workshop is to foster a dialogue among researchers who are exploring the complex tradeoffs that must be made in designing agent systems for interactive learning and/or entertainment.

Expanding on two earlier Agent-Based Systems for Human Learning (ABSHL) workshops, held at AAMAS-2005 and AAMAS-2006, the 2007 ABSHLE workshop will doubly focus on entertainment environments. Although the specific application areas of the participants may be varied, the major issues faced are shared. The plan for the full-day workshop is to interleave 25-minute full talks with 15-minute short talks, as well as panel and general discussions.