Abstract-Increasingly we wish to ask and research questions about the adoption of interorganizational systems and electronic commerce at the industry level but are hampered by the lack of a theory of concerted purposeful action at this large level of analysis. In this paper we give the outlines of such a theory and indicate the uses to which it can be put. Particular attention is paid to how the routine day-to-day activities of the firms and support organizations that make up an industry group can be coordinated in such a way that we can speak of an industry as engaged in purposeful activity. We contend that only through a deep understanding of the possibilities and nature of routine coordinated activity at this level can issues concerning promotion, implementation and adoption of interorganizational systems by whole industries be properly framed. I.

This paper introduces TABASCO, an architecture for software agents aimed at integrating results from functional theories in emotion research and insights on the impact of the capacities and limitations of perception in a framework orientated along the situated "New AI"/ALife approach. This expository paper first briefly summarizes current views on the nature and function of emotion and then discusses related current appraisal theories in more detail. A survey of existing approaches to emotion synthesis is followed by a first outline of the TABASCO architecture, relating it to the areas of research in psychology, ALife and agent architectures.

The metaphor of tool use for describing the interaction between a human and a computer is pervasive in user interface design. The basic concept of tool use, however, is difficult to define precisely, for HCI purposes or in general. In this paper we argue that a close examination of physical tool use can improve the design of interactive software. We describe a drawing application, HabilisDraw, that incorporates some of the properties we associate with physical tools but are not commonly found in software: persistent tool objects that encapsulate behavior and information, that can be used in conjunction with one another, and that embody rich cues about their appropriate usage. Initial results from formative evaluation suggest that the approach has some promise.

Artifacts have been recently proposed as firstclass abstractions to model and engineer general purpose computational environments for Multi-Agent Systems. In this paper, we first consider the role of infrastructures in supporting the artifact conceptual framework, discussing motivations and requirements, and then we propose an abstract model and architecture of a reference infrastructure for artifacts, here named CArtAgO.

Appraisal for a Character-based

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Abstract: Information systems in organisations are built to assist human actors to engage in goaldirected work activity. There is a certain traditional approach to information system design which has become crystallised in the standard Information Engineering Methodologies that are widely promulgated by practitioners, consultants and educators. We argue that this traditional approach is informed by a particular theory about the nature of human goal-directed action which emphasises the role of mental representation and deliberation as mediators of action. This theory of action has recently been criticised for its inability to explain the fluid, unreflective, real-time action characteristic of skilled routine activity. An alternative theory stressing action as a direct response to situations in structured environments has emerged. This paper reports our attempts to theorise an alternative to the traditional conception of information systems, which we call ‘situated information systems’, and to embody it in an analysis and design methodology based explicitly on this situational theory of action. We also report a system design case in which we applied the methodology in a commercial organisation. The methodology proved effective for identifying enhancements to the company’s operational systems and particularly for understanding the nature of existing problems. The case also resulted in several enhancements of the methodology and clarifications of the theory.

Abstract. Artifacts have been recently proposed as first-class abstractions to model and engineer general-purpose computational environments for multiagent systems. In this paper, we consider the design and development of an infrastructure called CArtAgO, directly supporting the artifact notion for the engineering of multiagent applications. We first propose an abstract model of the infrastructure, and then describe an implementation prototype of it. 1

Recently, IS researchers have borrowed theories from other academic fields in the hope of enriching their theorising about the use, adoption and diffusion of material systems by human actors. Situated Action, Structuration theory and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) are cases in point. Arguably, rather than borrowing theories ready-made from alien disciplines, we should investigate their meta-theoretical commitments and apply these directly to IS problems. This paper argues that the notion of viewing intentional action from the “ground view ” of a situated agent is the essential theoretical move underlying these theories. The notion of situated action is developed systemically as an alternative to the widespread deliberative view of action, and it is shown that the key notions of Structuration and ANT arise out of this exposition in a rather natural way. By demystifying these theories in this way, it is hoped that in future IS researchers might draw directly on the more fundamental notion of situated action in theorising the role of IT/IS in human intentional action. 1.

Gestures are pervasive in human communication across cultures; they clearly constitute an embodied aspect of cognition. In this study, evidence is provided for the contention that gestures are not only a co-expression of meaning in a different modality but also constitute an important stepping stone in the evolution of discourse. Data are provided from a Grade 10 physics course where students learned about electrostatics by doing investigations for which they constructed explanations. The data show that iconic gestures (i.e., symbolic hand movements) arise from the manipulation of objects (ergotic hand movements) and sensing activity (epistemic hand movements). Gestures not only precede but also support the emergence of scientific language. School science classes turn out to be ideal laboratories for studying the evolution of domain ontologies and (scientific) language. Micro-analytic studies of gesture-speech relationships and their emergence can therefore serve as positive constraints and test beds for synthetic models of language emergence.