Research Unit 1

Project AEOLUS and the University of Paderborn organize the Spring School on Algorithmic Principles of Selfishness and Mechanism Design in Paderborn, Germany at April 28-29, 2008. More information and registration for the school can be found on the corresponding website.

A very crucial dimension in modern overlay computers is the selfishness of the involved entities (user, service providers, auctioneers, traders, etc.). Taking this dimension into account has revolutionized the way such computer systems are modelled and analyzed. Important questions include the computation of stable states for such systems and the quantification of their loss in efficiency due to the selfish dimension. Finally, the design of appropriate mechanisms is a possible compensation to selfishness. A natural framework for this modern fascinating field is (the classical) Game Theory and its branch of Mechanism Design.

The school.s objective is to offer a representative and wide spectrum of current research on the algorithmic foundations of selfishness and Mechanism Design, and their applications to the modelling design and analysis of efficient overlay computers. The content of the lectures is of interest to graduate students and young researchers who are currently entering the field of selfish computing (also known as Algorithmic Game Theory).