"Reflection, Collectives and Adaptation: the Role of Models in the Design of Collective Adaptive Systems
Stuart O. Anderson, Mark Hartswood, Marina Denise Jirotka · 2014
We report work in progress on the role of models in the formation and maintenance of collectives in Hybrid Diversity-Aware Collective Adaptive Systems (HDA-CASs). HDA-CASs utilize hybrid computations involving machines and humans operating in collectives in a way that manages and leverages the diversity of collectives and machine-based computation. Here we explore the role of models in helping to constitute particular collectives and how models help shape the response of the collective. It appears that models are a potentially critical resource in collecting, sharing and acting on data gathered from the operation of CASs. This points to the potential role for models in the design of HDA-CASs. In particular we are interested in how models provide a sense of identity for a collective and can provide resources that shape the potential for collective action.