Collaboration between London and Oslo within SG3 has focussed on the formal-logical theory of normative positions (an approach to the systematic characterisation of normative relations in multi-agent systems), extending the formal analysis of concepts central to this approach by tackling the notion of "institutionalised power" [18] (closely related to the concept of legal competence). It is argued that institutionalised power is essentially involved in our understanding of authorisation and delegation mechanisms operative within organisations. There here emerges also a clear link with the work of the Lisbon group on responsibility for the performance of tasks within an organisation, since the Lisbon group in SG3 is very much concerned with patterns of distribution of responsibility (in organisations) in which responsibility can be coupled with an entitlement to delegate. Work in the Oslo group is also concerned with the formal-logical characterisation other aspects of obligations in multi-agent systems, pertaining, for instance, to the directedness of rights-relations and to social commitment [17,15,16,19,20]. In each of these centres of research within SG3, the abstract conceptual analyses are being coupled with applications to concrete examples of actual organisational practices. For instance, London/Oslo/Lisbon have investigated the structure of regulations for the conducting of examinations at a University of London college, where instances of authorisation and delegation are common. The work of the Rotterdam group in SG3 supplies a further domain of fruitful potential application, through their modelling of deontic aspects of International Trade Scenarios in CASE/EDI. CASE/EDI is a modelling tool based on Petri nets, and implemented in Prolog. One of the objectives of this case-study is the investigation of how international trade procedures might be simplified by replacing paper documents by electronic documents, that can be electronically exchanged and processed via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) [21]. Electronic contract negotiation and drafting via EDI between different trade partners is also being investigated.
Two other aspects of the Lisbon/London/Oslo collaboration should be mentioned: first, their work on deontic database integrity constraints [3], which may be seen as an attempt to construct formal tools for increasing the flexibility of the organisation and management of databases; and, secondly, their work on the formal representation of the context-sensitivity of deontic specifications [2]. Further work in the Lisbon team covered:
The work of the Rome group in SG3 supplies very useful perspectives deriving from Cognitive Science and Social Psychology concerning the nature and function of norms in multi-agent systems, and thereby enhances the inter-disciplinary character of ongoing SG3 activities. Among the questions they have been addressing, in terms of their mental model of norms [9] (characterised in terms of configurations of beliefs and goals) are the following:
In addition there are clear links between the Rome group's research and the London/Lisbon/Oslo interest in social/institutional power and social commitment.
The relationship between all of these SG3 activities and the central concerns of ModelAge is clearly evident from the full title of the Working Group, since each of the SG3 research efforts is preoccupied with the modelling of cooperative agent interaction. We seek ways of showing the value of formal-logical tools, deriving from, in particular, deontic logic and the logic of action, to the characterisation of inter-agent cooperation.