Abstract
Internet has emerged as an important medium for obtaining information as well as disseminating information. Yet, it has not been easy to harness the information power from this gigantic data source. In this thesis, we propose a multi-agent organization for global information gathering and customized delivery service. The target application domain concerns with time-critical, geographically remote and global information sources, such as commodity trade market. We adopt an organizational approach with functional decomposition and role-obligation coordination. In order to cope with task requirements, agents are dispatched as teams for regional information gathering and digesting. We emphasize task coordination in regional information gathering team and their operational autonomy. We also discuss trade-off in certain design issues.