[p2p-research] Self-organizing principles

Thu May 28 04:04:21 CEST 2009

Hi Mark and Bas,

perhaps we can republish your distinction on our blog and wiki?

Michel

2009/5/28 Mark Elliott <me at mark-elliott.net>

> Thanks for the feedback Bas. And that's exactly right Michel, stigmergy is
> in fact a form of communication, just an indirect one mediated by the
> environment.
>
> I haven't yet had a chance to read Paul's attachment, but I too would argue
> that every act of communication also entails coordination. Actually, as part
> of my phd, i developed a framework for collective activity that specifically
> distinguishes coordination, cooperation and collaboration (pg 39).
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
> 2009/5/25 Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>
>
> Hi Bas,
>>
>> I think the answer is that stigmergy is indirect, impersonal
>> communication, you leave 'holoptic trails' that can be read by whoever will
>> need them ... So there is communication if you like, but only indirect ...
>>
>> Michel
>>
>> 2009/5/25 Bas Reus <bas.reus at gmail.com>
>>
>> Hi Mark, Paul, et al.,
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your responses so far.
>>> @Mark: I read your abstract and some other pieces of your PhD. Very
>>> inspiring.
>>> @Paul: I read the PDF you attached, very inspiring as well.
>>>
>>> These pieces of work will definately move me to the right directions.
>>> Reading the material, I note some differences that cannot be both true, at
>>> least in some way. In the PDF Paul sent, you argue that every act of
>>> communication is also an act of coordination, while Mark argues that
>>> stigmergy is a form of self-organizing, without the need for any
>>> communication.
>>>
>>> What are your thoughts about this? Of course, this conclusion can be
>>> rather rough and lacks some theoretical fundaments, but this is a differnce
>>> I noticed.
>>>
>>> Very happy to discuss further as well, as this moves me to the rights
>>> directions. Digital stigmergy in the form of mass collaboration, with some
>>> rules of engagement set a priori to spark a autopoietic solution might just
>>> be the way to go for me. But I'm very open for more suggestions.
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Bas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 2009/5/22 Mark Elliott <me at mark-elliott.net>
>>>
>>> Hi Bas,
>>>>
>>>> Regarding,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Wikipedia can be seen as a self-organizing system where online
>>>>> collaboration is taking place. This is a great example that we all know. But
>>>>> what can be learnt from that? How did it become what it is today? Is it
>>>>> because of self-organizing, or where there some rules agreed upon that made
>>>>> it happen?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This is more or less exactly the focus of my phd<http://mark-elliott.net/blog/?page_id=24>- digital stigmergy as a core underlying mechanism in the coordination and
>>>> stimulation of online collaboration. Here's the abstract:
>>>>
>>>>> This thesis presents an application-oriented theoretical framework for
>>>>> generalised and specific collaborative contexts with a special focus on
>>>>> Internet-based mass collaboration. The proposed framework is informed by the
>>>>> author’s many years of collaborative arts practice and the design, building
>>>>> and moderation of a number of online collaborative environments across a
>>>>> wide range of contexts and applications. The thesis provides
>>>>> transdisciplinary architecture for describing the underlying mechanisms that
>>>>> have enabled the emergence of mass collaboration and other activities
>>>>> associated with ‘Web 2.0′ by incorporating a collaboratively developed
>>>>> definition and general framework for collaboration and collective activity,
>>>>> as well as theories of swarm intelligence, stigmergy, and distributed
>>>>> cognition.
>>>>>
>>>>> Accompanying this creative arts thesis is a DVD-Rom which includes
>>>>> offline versions of the three Internet based collaborative environments
>>>>> designed, built and implemented in accordance with the frameworks for
>>>>> digital stigmergy and mass collaboration developed in the written work. The
>>>>> creative works in conjunction with the written thesis help to explore and
>>>>> more rigorously define the collaborative process in general, while testing
>>>>> the theory that stigmergy is an inherent component of collaborative
>>>>> processes which incorporate collective material production.
>>>>>
>>>>> Supported by a range of contemporary examples of Internet activity,
>>>>> including the accompanying creative works, it is found that stigmergy is a
>>>>> deeply rooted mechanism inherent in not only traditional material
>>>>> collaborative processes, but a range of emerging online practices which may
>>>>> be broadly categorised as digital stigmergic cooperation and collaboration.
>>>>> This latter class enables the extreme scaling seen in mass collaborative
>>>>> projects such as Wikipedia.org, open source software projects and the
>>>>> massive, multiplayer environment, Second Life. This scaling is achieved
>>>>> through a range of attributes which are examined, such as the provision of a
>>>>> localised site of individualistic engagement which reduces demands placed
>>>>> upon participants by the social negotiation of contributions while
>>>>> increasing capacity for direct and immediate creative participation via
>>>>> digital workspaces. Also examined are a range of cultural, economic and
>>>>> sociopolitical impacts which emerge as a direct result of mass
>>>>> collaboration’s highly distributed, non-market based, peer-production
>>>>> processes, all of which are shown to have important implications for the
>>>>> further transformation of our contemporary information and media landscape.
>>>>>
>>>> Happy to discuss further :).
>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 4:51 PM, Michel Bauwens <
>>>> michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Bas,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm copying Gus, and  his initiative on Studies in Emergent Order, who
>>>>> may point you to some extra resources
>>>>>
>>>>> Mark Elliot studies stygmergy, i.e. communicative swarming,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sure paul's panarchy is also related,
>>>>>
>>>>> Michel
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesis  is a starting point.  There
>>>>>> are huge literatures in self-organizing systems in computer science and AI.
>>>>>> There are discussions of self-organization in physics and in communications
>>>>>> theory.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think one of the most accessible and best recent studies is called
>>>>>> Wikinomics.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You might want to look into the literature on social network analysis
>>>>>> and join the mailing lists at INSNA which have covered these topics from
>>>>>> sociological and mathematical perspectives for several years.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In biology, you my find your topic goes toward swarm science.  Swarms
>>>>>> are also heavily discussed in crowdsourcing literatures.  All of these
>>>>>> approaches overlap collaboration and self-organization.  There are even
>>>>>> literatures in constitutional and legal theory.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ryan Lanham
>>>>>> rlanham1963 at gmail.com
>>>>>> Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Bas Reus <bas.reus at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> All, this is a repost of a topic started at
>>>>>>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/. Please advice.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> P2P friends, here a topic on self-organizing. Currently I am trying
>>>>>>> to define this theme by making a list of themes that overlap self-organizing
>>>>>>> somewhere, and help to define the theme seen from an online collaborative
>>>>>>> point of view.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Self-organizing to me can be a system that is highly adaptive,
>>>>>>> flexible and 'bottom-up'. When seen from an online collaborative point of
>>>>>>> view I tend to think of empowerment and rules of engagement.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Of course Wikipedia can be seen as a self-organizing system where
>>>>>>> online collaboration is taking place. This is a great example that we all
>>>>>>> know. But what can be learnt from that? How did it become what it is today?
>>>>>>> Is it because of self-organizing, or where there some rules agreed upon that
>>>>>>> made it happen?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'd like to be inspired by your thougths on this subject.
>>>>>>> Thanks, Bas.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Original topic:
>>>>>>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/selforganizing-principles
>>>>>>> I already got some inspiration from Michel, on some available
>>>>>>> research and interests.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> p2presearch mailing list
>>>>>>> p2presearch at listcultures.org
>>>>>>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> p2presearch mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
>>>>> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
>>>>> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>>>>
>>>>> Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
>>>>> http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
>>>>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
>>>>>
>>>>> The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
>>>>> http://www.shiftn.com/
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> -----
>>>> Mark Elliott, PhD
>>>> Director, CollabForge pty ltd
>>>> collaboration ~ mass collaboration ~ social software
>>>> http://Collabforge.com ~ http://Mark-Elliott.net ~
>>>> http://MetaCollab.net
>>>> Phone: 0421 978 501 (international callers: +614 21 978 501)
>>>> Twitter: MarkElliott
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
>> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
>> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>
>> Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
>> http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
>> http://p2pfoundation.ning.com
>>
>> Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
>>
>> The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
>> http://www.shiftn.com/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> -----
> Mark Elliott, PhD
> Director, CollabForge pty ltd
> collaboration ~ mass collaboration ~ social software
> http://Collabforge.com ~ http://Mark-Elliott.net ~ http://MetaCollab.net
> Phone: 0421 978 501 (international callers: +614 21 978 501)
> Twitter: MarkElliott
>

-- 
Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html -
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

Volunteering at the P2P Foundation:
http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net -
http://p2pfoundation.ning.com

Monitor updates at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens

The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
http://www.shiftn.com/
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