Public Interfaces as the Result of Social Systems Structural Coupling
Markus Schatten, Miroslav Bača, Marinela Ivanković · 2009
ABSTRACT. Social systems are autopoietic (self-creating) systems which produce all their internal processes by them selves. When autopoietic systems interact with environmental (possibly alopoietic) systems the process of structural coupling takes place and there are possibilities that language will emerge. We analyze di erent public interfaces like wiki systems, forums, weblogs, social networks, tagging etc. to show how such interfaces can be seen as the result of structural coupling of social systems. We conclude that to facilitate citizen participation in on-line processes one needs to facilitate autopoiesis through various mechanisms. In the end we present the ⊺aOP s system that we implemented which aims on solving the described issues. Key Words. public interface, social system, structural coupling, autopoiesis 1