Abstract
This position paper describes ongoing work on an agent-based approach to searching for information on the World Wide Web (WWW). The reasons why current searching techniques are inadequate and the rationale for using an agent-based approach are briefly presented. A discussion of the architectural design of an agent-based searching system, the emergant properties and population dynamics of which can only be studied in a systemic manner, is given. The system has been simulated in order to try out various agent interaction strategies. The results of the simulation have influenced the design of a prototype implementation, which is also described. 1.