When Experimental and Computational Research Meet: The Participatory Extension Module v2.0

WHEN EXPERIMENTALAND COMPUTATIONAL
RESEARCH MEET:
THE PARTICIPATORY EXTENSION MODULE V2.0
Richard O. Legendi, Tamás Máhr, László Gulyás,
Rajmund Bocsi, Vilmos Kozma, Peter Rieger
{rlegendi, tmahr, lgulyas, rbocsi, vkozma, prieger}@aitia.ai
AITIA International, Inc.
41st World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology (IIS)
Social Interaction: Experimental and Computational Analysis
9-10 June, 2013, Uppsala, Sweden, http://www.iisoc.org/iis2013
The research leading to these results has received funding from the
European Union, Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013
under grant agreement no. CRISIS-ICT-2011-288501.

DEMO
2013.06.10. 41st IIC World Congress, Social Interaction track 2

The El Farol Bar Problem
• Agents are researchers (N=100)
• They visit a popular but small bar in Santa Fé
• If attendance > 60   (overcrowded)
• Who hasn’t come  
• If attendance <= 60  
• Who hasn’t come  
• Each day agents decide individually and in the same time
W. Brian Arthur, “Inductive Reasoning and Bounded Rationality”, American Economic Review
(Papers and Proceedings), 84,406–411, 1994.

The El Farol Bar Problem
• MASON implementation of a NetLogo variant
• Artifical agents:
• ARMA-based prediction with history
• Players have two actions: No go / go
• If   +1 Score!
• Goal: get max score
Rand, W. and Wilensky, U. (2007). NetLogo El Farol model. Center for Connected Learning and
Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern
University, Evanston, IL. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/ElFarol

Let’s play!
http://demo1.aitia.ai/

Model List
Create
Experiments
Additional Info

Admin Page (Admins are subjects too)
Subject list
(joined)
Admin tools

In-experiment Admin Page
Player status
(moved/waiting)

In-experiment Subject Page
Status messages

Post-experiment Scores

Outline
• Background
• The CRISIS project
• CRISIS Game
• PET v2.0
• Requirements
• Future works

Background: The CRISIS Project
“The CRISIS project addresses building a next generation
macroeconomic and financial system policymaking model:
a bottom-up agent-based simulation that fully accounts for the
heterogeneity of households, firms, and government actors. The
model will incorporate the latest evidence from behavioral
economics in portraying agent behavior, and the CRISIS team
will also collect new data on agent decision making using
experimental economics techniques. While any model must
make simplifying assumptions about human behavior, the
CRISIS model will be significantly more realistic in its portrayal of
relevant agent behavior than the current generation of
policymaking models.”
Crisis project description: https://www.crisis-economics.eu/

Web-based Game
(Participatory Experiments)
Economic Simulator
(Cloud-Based Parameter
Sweep Execution)
Modelling
Framework
Models

CRISIS Game
(Planned design)
http://game.crisis-economics.eu

The Model Under the CRISIS Game
Source: Domenico Delli Gatti, personal communications
(Single player mode)
Gatti, Domenico Delli, Saul Desiderio, Edoardo Gaffeo, Pasquale Cirillo, and Mauro Gallegati.
Macroeconomics from the Bottom-up. 1st ed. Springer, 2011.

Architecture

PET v2.0
• Idea came from AITIA's PET Software
• Participatory Extension
• Generalized components behind the CRISIS Game
• Modern, scalable infrastructure
• Previous version is 5+ years old
• Components may run on (several) different machines
• Software already available for any experiment

PET v2.0
• Can be used:
• Locally
• Laboratory experiments
• Policy makers (scenario analysis with a proper model)
• On any webserver to run constantly
• Gather data (scores from model and all user actions  replay)
• Dissemination
• Questionnaire module
• Verify if subjects understood the rules
• Software is already in use by Universiteit van Amsterdam

REQUIREMENTS?

What is required to use?
1. An ABM model
• PET is a generic framework
• Currently Java and MASON models are supported

What is required to use?
1. An ABM model
• PET is a generic framework
• Currently Java and MASON models are supported
2. Development of the web interface
• No restriction on tools (HTML5, GWT, ...)
• Communication to server by standardized tools (AJAX)
• Config files to map incoming messages to model actions

Future Works
• Tools to support front-end creation
• JavaScript library (WIP)
• User-friendly editor (flexible, easy to use)
• UI, questionnaire
• Tutorials, docs to be developed
• Additional platforms
• +Your ideas? 

Interested?
• „A New Set of Tools Supporting Agent-Based Economic
Modeling”, EPIA 2013 (under publication, ~Sept.)
• Statistical and Behavioral Model Analysis Tools.
• Hands-on workshop @ ESSA 2013

THANK YOU!
• Questions?
• Will be available soon from http://iaws.aitia.ai/
• Download the software:
• http://www.crisis-economics.eu/software
• Try the CRISIS Game
• http://game.crisis-economics.eu
• Take a look on the El Farol model:
• http://github.com/rlegendi/mason-examples
Richard O. Legendi
rlegendi@aitia.ai
http://people.inf.elte.hu/legendi/
June 10., 2013.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the
European Union, Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013
under grant agreement no. CRISIS-ICT-2011-288501.

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