Social cognition, artefacts, and stigmergy: A comparative analysis of theoretical frameworks for the understanding of artefact-mediated collaborative activity

Swarming Models for Facilitating Collaborative Decisions

“…Even if the term stigmergy has been primarily used for typically reactive (non-rational) agents, its relationship with cognition was investigated for the first time by Susi and Ziemke [15]. The authors conclude with the assertion that the conceptual framework of stigmergy offers a common denominator for the social sciences theories (i.e., activity theory; situated and distributed cognition).…”

Call of Survival: Stigmergy for Matters of Concern

“…This phenomenon leverages the innate survival instinct of each individual in the absence or lack of direct communication and central planning. (Susi & Ziemke, 2001;Theraulaz & Bonabeau, 1999) Individual action in the environment produces temporary or permanent changes (sign). These changes in the absence of direct communication triggers further action and sign-based-feedback to other agents in the shared environment.…”

“…(Marsh & Onof, 2008;H. V. D. Parunak, 2005;Susi & Ziemke, 2001;Theraulaz & Bonabeau, 1999) It explains social cohesion at two levels, firstly, 'inter-attraction' between society and individuals and 'interaction' between neighboring agents at the local level that facilitates interconnected response of agents to stimuli/action in a shared environment (Dipple, Raymond, & Docherty, 2014;Heylighen, 2015;Marsh & Onof, 2008;Ricci, Omicini, Viroli, Gardelli, & Oliva, 2007;Susi & Ziemke, 2001). Individual insects cannot survive alone, but collective inter-attraction and interaction assists in their optimal adaptation and survival from external conditions.…”

“…(Dipple, Raymond, & Docherty, n.d.;Dipple et al, 2014;Elliott, 2007;Heylighen, 2015;Marsden, 2013;H. V. D. Parunak, 2005;Ren, Huang, & Jin, 2010;Ricci et al, 2007;Susi & Ziemke, 2001) With advancing technology and internet networks, stigmergic interactions based on human mediated artifacts have proven successful in the emergence of self-organized structure of collective actions, irrespective of the agent's global location. Every agent is interconnected with many other networked agents, in both physical and virtual world that provides an appropriate condition for exploring stigmergic interaction.…”

Organisational Artifacts and Agents for Open Multi-Agent Organisations: “Giving the Power Back to the Agents”

“…Human organisation and organisation infrastructures, that are populated by humans (as participants and part of the organisation machinery), and by rich sets of artifacts and tools that humans use to support their activities inside the organisation and the organisation itself, encapsulating essential infrastructure services. According to psycho-sociological theories and studies such as Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition [22]-recently adopted in computer science fields such as CSCW, HCI and MAS [32,31,27]-the notion of artifact (and tool, taken here as a synonym) plays a key role for the overall sustainability of an organisation and the effectiveness and efficiency of activities taking place inside the organisation.…”