A Value-driven System for Scheduling Information Gathering a Value-driven System for Scheduling Information Gathering

This paper presents a system for scheduling information gathering in an information rich domain under time and monetary resource restrictions. The system gathers information using an explicit representation of the user's decision model and a database of information sources. Information gathering actions (queries) are scheduled myopically by selecting the query with the highest marginal value. This value is determined by the value of the information with respect to the decision being made, the responsiveness of the information source, and a time cost function specified by the user. We describe the benefits of the system and the lessons learned from its development.