Getting a FEEL for friendly computing environments
Gadgets such as the mobile telephone and personal computer have become part of everyday life in much of the world. In order to avoid being overwhelmed by devices, an effort is underway to provide the same services and value while making the computer disappear from our environment. The Information Society Technologies Programme has led the way in funding ground-breaking research in this area. For example, it supported the organisations involved in the FEEL project in their investigation of the potential of software agents. Three years of research culminated in the delivery of several new prototypes. Computer scientists with the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom discovered ways of accelerating the transfer of information between agents through argumentation. Several new algorithms were developed based on their findings and incorporated into the FEEL software following extensive testing. It should be emphasised that the algorithms are suitable not only for concepts such as FEEL, but also more generally for distributed computing paradigms. In particular, their speed may be valuable for applications requiring real-time exchange of data, including e-business.
