Formal Aspects of Electronic Commerce: Research Issues and Challenges

Steven O. Kimbrough and Ronald M. Lee
Volume 1, Number 4, Summer 1997, pp. 11 – 30.


Abstract: The notion of electronic or digital commerce is gaining widespread popularity. For the most part, these developments are being led by industry and government, with academic research following these trends in the form of empirical and economic research. Much more fundamental improvements to (global) commerce are possible but are presently being overlooked for lack of adequate formal theories, representations, and tools. This paper attempts to incite research in these directions.

Key Words and Phrases
: deontic reasoning, electronic commerce, formal methods, linguistic methods, Open EDI, speech act theory.