Abstract

As the information age grows, electronic commerce expands to every facet of business, creating new marketplaces for buyers and sellers to transact at their convenience. Electronic negotiation is essential to generating competitive markets for business transactions. Furthermore, the use of multi-issue negotiation allows for cooperative and competitive discussions. However, multi-issue electronic negotiation is a complex process that requires an agent system to support novice and sometimes experienced users. This thesis involves: (1) the design and implementation of an electronic market (eAgora) that allows individuals to negotiate on multiple issues and (2) the development of an intelligent agent system capable of assisting market participants in their negotiation activities. This is achieved by utilizing an innovative framework based on Agent-Oriented, Fusebox and traditional systems development methodologies. Both the electronic market and agent system implementations are verified in a preliminary usability test.* *This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation)