Integrating Multi-Agent Technology with Cognitive Modeling to Develop an Insurgency Information Framework (IIF)

This research focuses on the application of multi-agent technology and cognitive modeling to develop a decision model for use in analyzing and evaluating behavior strategies of insurgents in Iraq. Insurgency is a complex behavioral process that has many facets. It is a social as well as military problem and a major cause of injury and death for the citizens and military personnel in Iraq. Social computing is concerned with the study of social behavior abstracted by computational models. Computational modeling provides for social system analysis and evaluation. Social computing can be represented as 3-D simulations of real-world events to train, educate or aid in decision making. Users can maneuver through the life-like 3-D Virtual World to observe, record, and measure various behaviors of agents in relation to their environment. The methodology used in modeling these social phenomena is Agent-Oriented Programming (AOP) which is characterized by the use of real-world objects for design and an agent oriented language for implementation. This research integrates the development of multi-agent societies, Electronic Institutions, and Virtual World technology to conduct social computational modeling.