Implementing Self-organising Virtual Enterprises Using Social Behaviour Nets

Frameworks to support Internet-based virtual enterprises are currently characterised as having fixed process models, fixed meta-data models and a fixed set of users at project inception. This paper proposes the SoBeNet architecture to support a highly dynamic, self-organised, Internet-based approach based on social interaction. The architecture is based on a multi-agent approach, Internet communication being achieved through RSS feeds. RSS conveys state changes by carrying data defined in a common ontology. Each agent assesses state changes using a virtual sensor by calculating the semantic distance between the change and its own interests. Each agent also contains a behaviour network which uses an activation spreading paradigm to react to a combination of its own goals and state changes. The SoBeNet test-bed is based on the Java JADE environment.