Araucaria Araucaria is a software tool for analysing arguments. It aids a user in reconstructing and diagramming an argument using a simple point-and-click interface. The software also supports argumentation schemes, and provides a user-customisable set of schemes with which to analyse arguments. Once arguments have been analysed they can be saved in a portable format called "XML". XML is a flexible language which can easily be used to generate web pages and data with which to populate a database. Araucaria has been designed with the student, instructor, and researcher in mind. It is sufficiently straightforward to be useful to students learning how to reconstruct arguments, diagram them, and apply argumentation schemes. It is sufficiently flexible for instructors to provide their own examples, sample analyses, and alternate sets of argumentation schemes. Finally, it is also sufficiently powerful to be of use in research, particularly in providing examples of argument analyses to support claims. Araucaria is written in Java, which means that it runs on most computers, including all versions of Windows, UNIX and Linux, Macs*, and so on. It also means that it can run in a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. The browser-version does not currently support file saving and loading, nor the menus or help available in the standalone version. If you do not already have Java 1.3 installed on your machine, you will need to install it (for Windows, or Linux, but your browser should automatically give you the option of downloading the plugins you require if you don't already have them). A prototype of the browser version of the software can be found online. We welcome your comments and feedback. Araucaria version 0.8 will be demonstrated in Windsor, ON, at OSSA'2001, (May 17-19) and after feedback from that presentation has been taken into account, Araucaria version 1.0 will be available for download from this site. Araucaria is a collaborative project between Chris Reed and Glenn Rowe at the Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee. Last updated 08 May 2001 Chris Reed