Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Distributed (design) knowledge exchange

  • Original Article
  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Despite the intrinsic complexity of integrating individual, social and technologically supported intelligence, the paper proposes a relatively simple ‘connectionist’ framework for conceptualizing distributed cognitive systems. Shared information sources (documents) are represented as nodes connected by links of variable strength, which increases as the documents co-occur in the usage patterns. This learning procedure captures and exploits its users’ implicit knowledge to help them find relevant information, thus supporting an unconscious form of exchange. These principles are applied to a concrete problem domain: architects sharing design knowledge through a database of associatively connected building projects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Agre P (2003) Information and institutional change: the case of digital libraries. In: Digital library use. social practice in design and evaluation. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 219–240

  • Bollen J, Nelson ML, Geisler G, Araujo R (2006) Usage derived recommendations for a video digital library. J Netw Comput Appl 30(3):1059–1083 (doi:10.1016/j.jnca.2005.12.009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bollen J, Van de Sompel H (2006) Mapping the structure of science through usage. Scientometrics 69(2):227–258 (doi:10.1007/s11192-006-0151-8)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouthors V, Dedieu O (1999) Pharos, a collaborative infrastructure for web knowledge sharing. In: Abiteboul S, Vercoustre A-M (eds) Research and advanced technology for digital libraries, 3rd European conference, ECDL '99 Proceedings, vol 1696 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, pp 215–233

  • Clark A (1997) Being there: putting brain, body, and world together again. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Crestani F (1997) Application of spreading activation techniques in information retrieval. Artif Intell Rev 11(6):453–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey CF, Smith P, Lund P (1998) Providing a networked future for interpersonal information retrieval: Infovine and user modeling. Interact Comput 10:195–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasan H, Gould E, Hyland P (1998) Information systems and activity theory: tools in context. University of Wollongong Press, Wollongong

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebb DO (1949) The organization of behavior. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Herlocker JL, Konstan JA, Borchers A, Riedl J (1999) An algorithmic framework for performing collaborative filtering. In: Proceedings of the 22nd annual international ACM SIGIR conference on research and development in information retrieval, pp 230–237

  • Heylighen A, Neuckermans H (2000) DYNAMO: dynamic architectural memory on-line. Educ Technol Soc 3(2):86–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Heylighen A, Neuckermans H, Casaer M (2004a) ICT revisited-from information and communication to integrating curricula?. ITcon 9:101–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Heylighen F (1999) Collective intelligence and its implementation on the Web: algorithms to develop a collective mental map. Comput Math Org Theory 5(3):253–280

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Heylighen F, Bollen J (2002) Hebbian algorithms for a digital library recommendation system. In: Proceedings 2002 international conference on parallel processing workshops. IEEE Computer Society Press, pp 439–446

  • Heylighen F, Heath M, Van Overwalle F (2004b) The emergence of distributed cognition: a conceptual framework. In: Proceedings of collective intentionality IV

  • Hutchins E (1995) Cognition in the Wild. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch D, Maglio P (1994) On distinguishing epistemic from pragmatic action. Cogn Sci 18:513–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolodner JL (1993) Case-based reasoning. Morgan Kaufman, San Mateo

    Google Scholar 

  • Konstan JA, Miller BN, Maltz D, Herlocker JL, Gordon LR, Riedl J (1997) Grouplens: applying collaborative filtering to usenet news. Commun ACM 40(3):77–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lévy P (1997) Collective intelligence. Plenum, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod P, Plunkett K, Rolls ET (1998) Introduction to connectionist modeling of cognitive processes. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mobasher B, Dai H, Luo T, Nakagawa N (2001) Effective personalization based on association rule discovery from web usage data. In: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Web information and data management, ACM Press, pp 9–15

  • Mock KJ, Vemuri VR (1997) Information filtering via hillclimbing, wordnet, and index patterns. Inf Process Manage 33(5):633–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prabhu (eds), Handbook of human–computer interaction. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 878–914

  • Riesbeck CK, Schank RC (1989) Inside case-based reasoning. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Rucker J, Polanco MJ (1997) Personalized navigation for the web. Commun ACM 40:73–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarwar B, Karypis G, Konstan J, Reidl J (2001) Itembased collaborative filtering recommendation algorithms. In: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on World Wide Web. ACM Press, pp 285–295

  • Schank RC (1982) Dynamic memory—a theory of reminding and learning in computers and people. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Shardanand U, Maes P (1995) Social information filtering: algorithms for automating word of mouth, Proc. CHI’95—Human factors in computing systems, pp 210–217

  • Susi T, Ziemke T (2001) Social cognition, artefacts, and stigmergy: a comparative analysis of theoretical frameworks for the understanding of artefact-mediated collaborative activity. Cogn Syst Res 2(4):273–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takano H, Winograd T (1998) Dynamic booksmarks. Managing personal navigation space by analysis of link structure and user behavior. In Hypertext 98, ACM, pp 297–298

  • Twidale MB, Nichols DM, Paice CD (1997) Browsing is a collaborative process. Inf Process Manage 33(6):761–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van House NA (2003) Digital libraries and collaborative knowledge instruction. In: Digital library use. Social practice in design and evaluation. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 271–296

  • Wasfi AMA (1999) Collecting user access patterns for building user profiles and collaborative filtering. In: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces. ACM Press, pp 57–64

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Urbanism & Planning, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Ann Heylighen & Mathias Casaer

  2. Center “Leo Apostel”, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Francis Heylighen

  3. Los Alamos National Laboratory, STB-RL, Proto, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, Mexico

    Johan Bollen

Authors
  1. Ann Heylighen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francis Heylighen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Johan Bollen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mathias Casaer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ann Heylighen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heylighen, A., Heylighen, F., Bollen, J. et al. Distributed (design) knowledge exchange. AI & Soc 22, 145–154 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-007-0122-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-007-0122-5

Keywords