Agent

Anything that can perform an action. Has agency, i.e. can also plan, to take actions.

Agents can be individuals, groups, projects, networks. Agents can also be bots, machines (IoT)

Related to REA / NRP

In the REA / NRP language we have users and economic agents.

A user is linked to an account, it is credentials to access the NRP.

A economic agent can represent an individual, a project / venture, another network or even a traditional organization. Economic agents (or simply agents) ca be of various types: agent type.

An agents that contribute to processes are affiliates. Furthermore, affiliates have profiles, can form a digital identity, and that in the case of a NRP-CAS as a platform (server-client architecture) user is the credentials to access the platform.

We can say that resources are used in events by agents (hence REA).

User vs agent

The term user is used in the context of online centralized platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. The users in these contexts have no control over the platform, they are provided the platform as a service, in exchange of user data produced through interactions within the platform, which can be monetized elsewhere by the platform owners.

User also has a local connotation, as an agent within a specific application. Agent is used in a more generic sense that can transcend the local contexts.

In a p2p context it is not advised to reduce agents or affiliates to users.