Distributed intelligence

Draft

See also: distributed cognition, collective intelligence and external cognition

According to Derry and Fischer (2005:7):

distributed intelligence is a complex entity with multiple interacting dimensions (Fischer, 2004) that must be managed including:

• knowledge distribution - the availability and orchestration of tools and ideas from different disciplines (DuRussel & Derry, 1998; Fischer, 2001; Olson, Malone, & Smith, 2001).
• spatial distribution, when there is physical distance between interacting agents (Olson & Olson, 2001);
• temporal distribution, as when an open-source system or other artifact is repeatedly modified by different user-creators over time (Fischer et al., 1992; Moran & Carroll, 1996; Thimbleby, Anderson, & Witten, 1990).
• technological distribution (Barab, 2004; Engelbart, 1995; Norman, 1993), involving understanding which tasks (or parts of tasks) and other knowledge forms are better reserved for an educated human mind and which should be taken over or aided by media, tools, and technologies (Landauer, 1988).

Distributed intelligence also has a critical social dimension. Theorists writing about interdisciplinary learning and collaboration have long recognized that achievement of excellence requires ideational collisions brought about by controversy and debate (e.g. Flower, 2000; Graff, 2003; Wells & Claxton, 2002)

References

• Derry, Sharron J. and Fischer, Gerhard (2005). Toward a Model and Theory for Transdisciplinary Graduate Education, Paper presented at 2005 AERA Annual Meeting as part of Symposium, "Sociotechnical Design for Lifelong Learning: A Crucial Role for Graduate Education", PDF Reprint

Other

• Barab, S. (2004). Design-based research: Clarifying the terms. Special issue: The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1).

• DuRussel, L. A., & Derry, S. J. (1998). Analogical reasoning in a natural working group. Paper presented at the Proceedings: Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Madison, WI.

• Engelbart, D. C. (1995). Toward augmenting the human intellect and boosting our collective IQ. Communications of the ACM, 38(8), 30-33.

• Fischer, G. (2001). Communities of interest: Learning through the interaction of multiple Knowledge Systems. Paper presented at the 24th Annual Information Systems Research Seminar In Scandinavia (IRIS'24), Ulvik, Norway.

• Fischer, G., Grudin, J., Lemke, A. C., McCall, R., Ostwald, J., Reeves, B. N., et al. (1992). Supporting indirect, collaborative design with integrated knowledge-based design environments. Human Computer Interaction, Special Issue on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 7(3), 281-314.

• Fischer, G. (2004). Social creativity: Turning barriers into opportunities for collaborative design. In F. deCindio & D. Schuler (Eds.), Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (PDC'04) (pp. 152-161). University of Toronto, Canada, July: CPSR, P.O. Box 717, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

• Landauer, T. (1988). Education in a world of omnipotent and omniscient technology. In R. Nickerson & P. Zodhiates (Eds.), Technology in Education: Looking toward 2020. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Moran, T. P., & Carroll, J. M. (Eds.). (1996). Design rationale: Concepts, techniques, and use. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Norman, D. A. (1993). Things that make us smart. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

• Olson, G. M., Malone, T. W., & Smith, J. B. (Eds.). (2001). Coordination theory and collaboration technology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Olson, G. M., & Olson, J. S. (2001). Distance matters. In J. M. Carroll (Ed.), Human-Computer Interaction in the New Millennium (pp. 397-417). New York: ACM Press.

• Thimbleby, H., Anderson, S., & Witten, I. H. (1990). Reflexive CSCW: Supporting long-term personal work. Interacting with Computers, 2(3), 330-336.