A User-Centred Design Approach For Agent Based E-Business Systems

An important aspect of designing for ubiquitous e-business applications is addressing the issues concerning user requirements and culture in which the system is to be deployed. The value of ethnographic analysis in this respect is gaining increasing acceptance. In this paper, we present an approach based on ethnography and multi-agents systems to address these issues. The usage of ethnographic approach provides an understanding of user requirements and explains the semantics, functionality and detailed business needs of e-business applications. We also stress the need of employing artificial intelligent agents that are suitable for e-business applications due to their autonomy, flexible behaviour and negotiating capabilities. Secondly, ethnographic concepts can directly be mapped onto the BDI (belief desire, intention) model of an agent. In this paper, we also demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by presenting a real life case study of a tailoring system