[ISEA2009] Paper: Daniela Alina Plewe – O-d-o: negotiating, contracting and transacting for online deal-making

Abstract

We outline an online market place with a visual interface facilitating any kind of dealmaking in the internet. Through the interface users can negotiate, conclude contracts and execute transactions online. Internet users can specify goals to be achieved or post specific bids and offers. O-d-o will propose matching counterparties via a userbased tagging system. Through the visual negotiation platform the two parties can then start to negotiate. If an agreement is reached, it is captured as a visual contract and a transaction may follow.
This system is meant to facilitate transactions in the niche markets of the current Internet economy. Besides it’s economic potential O-d-o may also serve as a generic platform for so-called transactional arts – art works where some sort of value is exchanged and which often involve a kind of deal-making. We also outline various applications addressing domains like finance, outsourcing and new forms of online collaboration in a globalized economy.
A special interest lies on the detection of win-win situations and what we call ‘creative-deal making’. According to findings in the field of interest based negotiation agents may increase the quality of agreements by exchanging information about their underlying goals, enabling for example alternative ways to attain those goals being
discovered. The enforceability of the contracts follows current cyber-law practices. In the context of social networking sites and b-to-b market-platforms the counterparty risk can also be reduced through the visibility of deal-making histories for each party.
The innovative combination of functionalities and the visual interface support all steps from interaction to transaction within one system. The commercial potential lies in supporting the various communities emerging around the subjects they negotiate.

  • Daniela Alina Plewe Lab for Media and Arts, Paris / University Scholars Programme, Communications and New Media Program, National University Singapore

Full text (PDF)  p. 470-477