So at this point we are done with Unit 1
and we've described what agent based modelling is...
why you might want to use it...
what its advantages are, what some of the limitations might be...
how it compares to potential other methods you're looking at...
and even what you can use it for and what it can be used to accomplish.
But what we haven't done, and what's probably most important,
is we haven't described how to build an agent based model,
and we haven't described how to use that ABM once you've built it.
And that's what the rest of this course is really going to be about.
So I'm really excited to start Unit 2,
where we're going to dive into building a simple model,
and illustrate how you might construct that model
and how to start thinking like an agent based modeller.
And so at this point I think it makes sense to take a brief pause
and have you fill out a questionnaire
where you will think through a model that you might want to explore,
a model that you might want to take a look at during this course.
So I have a text file that has some questions
you can download it and fill it out.
I also have a Google survey
where you can provide some of those answers to me directly.
And that provides you with some ways to start thinking about the project
and the model that you want to construct.
At the same time, since we're going to be jumping right into ABM
and actually building agent based models next time,
I want to encourage you to download the NetLogo software if you haven't already,
and go through the tutorials - they're easy to find -
they're in the documentation of the software,
and if you want more additional information
then grab a copy of the book that I wrote with Uri, 'Agent Based Modelling',
it's a great companion to this course
and I highly recommend using this and other things
to start to get you up to speed on how to build your agent based model
which is what we're going to be discussing in the very next unit.