A normative multi-agent systems approach to the use of conviviality for digital cities

Abstract

Conviviality is a mechanism to reinforce social cohesion and a tool to reduce mis-coordination between individuals, groups and institutions in web communities, for example in digital cities. We use a two-fold definition of conviviality as a condition for social interactions and an instrument for the internal regulation of social systems. In this paper we discuss the use of normative multi-agent systems to analyze the use of conviviality for digital cities, by contrasting norms for conviviality with legal and institutional norms in digital cities. We show the role of the distinction among various kinds of norms, the explicit representation of norms, the violability of norms and the dynamics of norms in the context of conviviality for digital cities. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.