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Agent Based Modeling to Inform the Design of Multiuser Systems

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Ways of Knowing in HCI

Abstract

Agent Based Modeling studies group activity by simulating the individuals in it and allowing group-level phenomena to emerge. It can be used to integrate theories to inform designs of technology for groups. Researchers use theories as the basis of the rules of how individuals behave (e.g., what motivates users to contribute to an online community). They can run virtual experiments by changing parameters of the model (e.g., the topical focus in an online community) to see what collective behaviors emerge.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Another rare form of model validation is called model alignment or “docking” in short, under which researchers compare two or more models to see if they can produce the same results. A good example is Axtell and colleagues’ work (1996) to align the cultural transmission model and the Sugarscape model. They call for wider practice of docking among modelers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Yuqing Ren

  2. Human–Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Robert E. Kraut

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  1. Yuqing Ren
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  2. Robert E. Kraut
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Correspondence to Yuqing Ren .

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  1. University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA

    Judith S. Olson

  2. Group Social Computing, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, USA

    Wendy A. Kellogg

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Ren, Y., Kraut, R.E. (2014). Agent Based Modeling to Inform the Design of Multiuser Systems. In: Olson, J., Kellogg, W. (eds) Ways of Knowing in HCI. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0378-8_16

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