A Study of Fairness of Information Distribution and Utilization in a Mobile Agent-Based Adaptive Information Service System

The information handling capacity of wide area networks is ever increasing and becoming dynamic, thus posing a challenge for their optimum utilization. In such a dynamic environment it is very difficult to maintain a coherent picture of the information services. The current information services on the internet therefore need to be optimized. A novel technique proposed recently employs autonomous mobile agents in faded information field architecture (FIF) to facilitate information provision and servicing on wide area networks. The architecture is decentralized in nature whereby both the service provider and information seeker communicate through mobile agents. However, the degree of fairness of information distribution and access is still a problem to be addressed. This paper investigates the issue of fairness among information users for access to information in a networked environment employing mobile agent technology. A FIF was simulated employing a number of algorithms characterizing its behaviour with respect to fairness of information distribution by various service providers in the network. Simulations results indicate that in a given information system, both the service providers and the information seekers may be given equal access to the distribution and utilization of information provided a number of suitable algorithms are employed depending on the nature of information service available on the wide area network.