- From: David Booth <dbooth@w3.org>
- Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 11:18:00 -0500
- To: public-webarch-comments@w3.org
For what it's worth, I've collected a small amount of data to support my
contention that the term "agent" in the context of computer science does
NOT include humans. This week I polled two working groups that happened to
be meeting f2f. I asked (essentially):
In the context of computer science, does the term "agent" mean:
(a) a machine; or
(b) either a machine or human
In the WS Architecture working group:
8 said "agent" means a machine
0 said "agent" means a machine or human
In the WS Description working group:
8 said "agent" means a machine
3 said "agent" means a machine or human
In other words, 16 out of 19 said that humans are not "agents" in the usual
sense of the term in computer science.
Obviously this is not a scientific poll, but it is some data.
--
David Booth
W3C Fellow / Hewlett-Packard
Telephone: +1.617.253.1273
Received on Friday, 30 January 2004 11:15:53 UTC