Electronic institutions : the EI/EIDE framework

The notion of electronic institution draws inspiration from traditional institutions. Both can be seen as “coordination artefacts that serve as an interface between the internal decision making of individuals and their (collective) goals”. However, electronic institutions, unlike the conventional ones, are intended to work on-line and may involve the participation of humans as well as software agents. The EI/EIDE framework that we present in this chapter includes the formal metamodel (EI) for electronic institutions (EI), and a particular development environment (EIDE) for implementing EI-based models. One models an electronic institution as a network of scenes where agents establish and discharge commitments, through “conversations” that are constrained by procedural and functional conventions. The EI metamodel includes the formal languages used to specify an institution and the data structure, operations and operational semantics that need to be supported by a technological environment to run it.