Software Agents and Issues in PersonaUsation: Technotogy to Accommodate Individuat Users Richard J. Keeble and Robert D. Macredie Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK Abstract: This paper provides a background to the somewhat nebulous field of computing known as "softwareagent technology".It gives both an overviewof some of the key issues faced by the field, and illustrates the context for the papers contained in the rest of the special issue. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the field and proceeds to survey existing work, showing where overlaps exist between agent technology research and interrelated fields such as Human-ComputerInteraction (HCI) and Distributed Artificial Intelligence(DAI). The paper then alters focusto concentrate on applications to the personalisationof systemsand services to individual users, and techniques which offeropportunities in this area. The other papers in the Special Issuethen formthe basis for a reviewof the current state of the art in the personalisation of Systemsusing agent technology.The paper concludes by offeringsome suggestionsfor future development of the technologies mentioned. Keywords: Agent-based interaction; Informationmanagement; Personalisation; Software agents; User interfaces i. Introduction This paper provides a background to the somewhat nebulous field of computing known as "software agent technology" - a wide-ranging term which covers a variety of work, rooted in different areas. It gives both an overview of some of the key issues faced by workers in the field, and subsequently illustrates the context for the papers contained in the rest of the special issue. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the field and proceeds to survey existing work, showing where overlaps exist between agent technology research and interrelated fields such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI). The paper then alters focus to concentrate on applications to the personalisation of systems and services to individual users, showing how the other papers in the Special Issue relate to the different agent technologies discussed already. The paper concludes by offering some sug- gestions for future development of the technologies mentioned. 2, Software Agent Technology We begin with a discussion of general issues in the field of software agents and lead on to an exploration of the varying technologies which are associated with the term "agent", to show how personalised systems may be provided using agent technology. The terms "agent" and "agency" are discussed with reference to personalisation in order to clarify their meaning in this situation. A variety of software agent technologies exist, and these will be examined in detail. This will lead to-an under- standing of the types of software agents that will be appropriate in supporting personalisation of systems and user interfaces. 2.1. Views of software agents Many different definitions of the term "agent" exist. Consequently, there are many different types of agents with different properties and character- istics. The central idea is that an agent embodies some kind of autonomous process working "in the background" to help achieve the user's goals. There are a range of levels at which such agents can be considered to be working. At a high level, they can be viewed as an enabling functionality providing a service of some kind. Maes [1] gives the example of an agent which will schedule meet- ings in accordance with a user's preferences. In this case, the agent is working at the information level - within the context of human understanding. 9 Springer-Verlag London Ltd Personal Technologies(1998) 2:131-140