ITS 832 Chapter 13

Management of Complex Systems: Toward Agent-Based Gaming for Policy

Information Technology in a Global Economy

Professor Michael Solomon

Introduction

• Simulating/Managing Social Complex Phenomena • Leadership and Management in Complex Systems • Serious Gaming • Agent-Based Games for Testing Leadership and

Management

• Single and Multiplayer Settings • Summary and conclusions

Simulating and Managing Social Complex Phenomena

• Study of how people interact • Scale prohibits experimentation with real populations • Agent-Base modeling (ABM)

• Networked agents • Each agent is an individual

• Interaction may modify agent behavior • Managing complex phenomena introduces complexity

• Techniques to manage turbulent situations vary • Technique success depends on responding to agent behavior

• Which may change based on interactions

Leadership and Management in Complex Systems

• Traditional leadership research • Generally focuses on single period in time

• Doesn’t address dynamic relationships

• Timing of leadership principle application matters • Primary leadership functions

• Instructional and regulatory

• Developmental

• Simulations offer promise to help model leadership in complex systems

Serious Gaming

• Applying gaming techniques to real life situations • Flight simulators

• Effective for evaluating complex environments • Player must interact with multiple actors and situations

• Currently used for side range of training applications • Leadership use

• Deterministic – limited scope

• ABMs in serious gaming can help understand more complex interactions

Agent-Based Games for Testing Leadership and Management

• ABM games with autonomous AI population • Test leadership style effectiveness

• Explore which styles work best in different situations

• Determine the best choice for a given scenario

• Current state of the art is more conceptual • Advances needed in interfaces

• Need to allow users to interact with simulation

• Keep players engaged

Behavior Impacted by Multiple Factors

Single and Multiplayer GamesChapter 13 discussed managing complex systems and chapter 15 introduced the advantages of visual decision support. Discuss how you would combine the two concepts to create visualizations for an ABM-Based Gaming simulation for policy making. First, describe what specific policy youre trying to create. Lets stick with the SmartCity scenario. Describe a specific policy (that you havent used before), and how you plan to use ABM-Based Gaming to build a model for simulate the effects of the policy. Then, describe what type of visualization technique youll use to make the model more accessible. Use figure 15.9 and describe what data a new column for your policy would contain.
To complete this assignment, you must do the following:
A) Create a new thread. As indicated above, discuss how you would combine the two concepts to create visualizations for an ABM-Based Gaming simulation for policymaking. First, describe what specific policy youre trying to create. Lets stick with the SmartCity scenario. Describe a specific policy (that you havent used before), and how you plan to use ABM-Based Gaming to build a model for simulating the effects of the policy. Then, describe what type of visualization technique youll use to make the model more accessible. Use figure 15.9 and describe what data a new column for your policy would contain.