Collective intelligence: analysis and modelling
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the underpinning dynamics that explain collective intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
Collective intelligence can be understood as the capacity of a collective system to evolve toward higher order complexity through networks of individual capacities. The authors observed two collective systems as examples of the dynamic processes of complex networks – the wiki course PeSO at the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, and an agent-based model inspired by wiki systems.
Findings
The results of the wiki course PeSO and the model are contrasted with a random network baseline model. Both the wiki course and the model show dynamics of accumulation, in which statistical properties of non-equilibrium networks appear.
Research limitations/implications
The work is based on network science. The authors analyzed data from two kinds of networks: the wiki course PeSO and an agent-based model. Limitations due to the number of computations and complexity appeared when there was a high order of magnitude of agents.
Practical implications
Better understanding can allow for the measurement and design of systems based on collective intelligence.
Originality/value
The results show how collective intelligence emerges from cumulative dynamics.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of information from the PeSO course of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes. The authors would also like to thank the professors of the PeSO course, Juan Alejandro Valdivia, Adriana Díaz and Juan Pablo Calderon, for their valuable comments and suggestions. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes and the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad del Valle.
Citation
Suárez Valencia, E., Bucheli, V., Zarama, R. and Garcia, Á. (2015), "Collective intelligence: analysis and modelling", Kybernetes, Vol. 44 No. 6/7, pp. 1122-1133. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-11-2014-0245
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited