Intelligent agents are computer-based entities that can carry out certain kinds of searches in networks. They can be "knowbots" that examine network servers to gather data in support of specific questions. They can be brokers that negotiate between a human and machines or other humans, or which locate all instances of a certain type of resource. Whatever their form, they are certain to be regarded as important information objects appearing in workflow models of general organizational processes.
The research in the field of Intelligent Agents (Riecken, 1994) can be seen as providing active support in an environment for interactions between humans and software-based agents. A personal assistant is an example; it might screen email or monitor databases. Such an agent can be seen as a participant in a stylized conversation (Greif, 1994). Agents can facilitate coordination better if they base their behavior explicitly upon models of work processes. The ongoing research on agents to assist coordination and collaboration between people (such as agents which schedule calanders) is closely associated with CSCW.
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