Agency and the Virtual Campus: The TrAM Approach

The capture and analysis of requirements for virtual campus systems that employ emerging technologies is complex. Whilst the agent paradigm can assist the modelling of such systems, the variety, scope and volume of network interactions creates a scenario that is difficult to comprehend and analyse. Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) is an approach to early requirements capture that is particularly suited for convoluted, complex domains. It incorporates the use of Conceptual Graphs and an Economic Accouting model to capture and represent the qualitative dimensions inherent in real-world situations, and also the use of Peirce Logic to test the models derived. Through an exemplar in the mobile learning(m-learning) domain, TrAM is demonstrated and explicated to illustrate its use.