Article “Modelling Norm Dynamics in Multi-Agent Systems” published

We have recently published an article that contains a review of existing norm life cycle models in the context of Normative Multi-Agent Systems:

C. K. Frantz and G. Pigozzi (2018): Modelling Norm Dynamics in Multi-Agent SystemsJournal of Applied Logics – IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and their Applications, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 491-564 [PDF]

The article reviews all existing norm life cycle models and proposes a general synthesised life cycle model that builds on the existing models. The article further contains a comprehensive overview of all works in the areas of norm emergence, norm identification, and norm synthesis.

Abstract: Since multi-agent systems are inspired by human societies, they do not only borrow their coordination mechanisms such as conventions and norms, but also need to consider the processes that describe how norms come about, how they propagate in the society, and how they change over time.In the NorMAS community, this is best reflected in various norm life cycle conceptions that look at normative processes from a holistic perspective. While the earliest life cycle model emerged in the research field of international relations, the first life cycle model in the AI community has been proposed at the 2009 NorMAS Dagstuhl workshop by Savarimuthu and Cranefield [2009] and is based on a comprehensive survey of then existing contributions to the research field. Subsequently, two further models have been proposed that offer more refined accounts of the fundamental underlying processes.In this article, we review all existing norm life cycle models (Section 2), including the introduction of the individual life cycle models and their contextualization with specific contributions that exemplify life cycle processes.