Digital Ecosystems: Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures

We view Digital Ecosystems to be the digital counterparts of biological ecosystems. Here, we are concerned with the creation of these Digital Ecosystems, exploiting the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems to evolve high-level software applications. Therefore, we created the Digital Ecosystem, a novel optimisation technique inspired by biological ecosystems, where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of agents which are distributed in a decentralised peer-to-peer network, operating continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. The Digital Ecosystem was then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures originating from theoretical ecology, evaluating its likeness to biological ecosystems. This included its responsiveness to requests for applications from the user base, as a measure of the ecological succession (ecosystem maturity). Overall, we have advanced the understanding of Digital Ecosystems, creating Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures where the word ecosystem is more than just a metaphor.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures, journa

Epistemologies of competence related knowledge - A system theoretical analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the multiple views of knowledge and competence in organizations at different levels that cause indistinctness in competence management and to find out how competence related knowledge is achieved at different organizational levels. The objective is thus to bring underlying epistemologies of knowledge and competence into the academic discussion and further examine how they are expressed in practice. In the theoretical part of this study system theories and their use in management and organizational studies are examined. Open-system, connectivist and autopoietic approaches are clarified and their theoretical implications in organizational studies are presented. Also, the role of knowledge and its management in organizations is discussed, the vast field of knowledge management is presented and cognitivist, connectionist and autopoietic ways to conceptualize knowledge are considered. After a theoretical review a theoretical construct was formed and empirical findings were compared to it. This study was carried out in four Finnish companies and 11 persons from different organizational levels were interviewed in summer 2009. The methodology of this study is qualitative and empirical data was collected by using semi–structured interviews. In the analyzing phase the transcripts were carefully read, coded and further analyzed. As a result of this study different approaches to knowledge and competence could be found in different organizational levels. The supervisor level was found to achieve knowledge in everyday work in own unit. The HR level acted as a bridge builder in organizations and gathered knowledge through networking. The strategic management level created knowledge in strategy making process and focused on strategic competences. These findings were compared to the formed theoretical construct. Some distinctions could be made, autopoietic, connetionist and cognitivist characteristics were all found in the examined functions, but more research in the area is needed and thus future research suggestions are presented.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Network Strategy for Entrepreneurs

Networks are an emerging area within the literature related to how entrepreneurs transfer knowledge, seek partnerships, and ultimately interact with others. Some terms with which this area has been defined are Business Networks, Knowledge Networks & Collaboration Networks. It is a cross-cutting phenomenon in various areas of knowledge, such as open innovation and entrepreneurship. However, the relevance of the use of networks for entrepreneurs and the development of global start-ups leads us to the need to propose a conceptual framework for the planning and administration of these business networks. It is an analytical investigation with a case study methodology. They are cases of the cities of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile) mainly of consulting and software services. From the models usually used in entrepreneurship, those with integrated tools and methodologies for the development of business networks by founders or administrators of start-ups

Managing Community Knowledge to Build a Better World

Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity’s knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill

A Computational Model of Creative Design as a Sociocultural Process Involving the Evolution of Language

The aim of this research is to investigate the mechanisms of creative design within the context of an evolving language through computational modelling. Computational Creativity is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on modelling creative behaviours. Typically, research in Computational Creativity has treated language as a medium, e.g., poetry, rather than an active component of the creative process. Previous research studying the role of language in creative design has relied on interviewing human participants, limiting opportunities for computational modelling. This thesis explores the potential for language to play an active role in computational creativity by connecting computational models of the evolution of artificial languages and creative design processes. Multi-agent simulations based on the Domain-Individual-Field-Interaction framework are employed to evolve artificial languages with features that may support creative designing including ambiguity, incongruity, exaggeration and elaboration. The simulation process consists of three steps: (1) constructing representations associating topics, meanings and utterances; (2) structured communication of utterances and meanings through the playing of “language games”; and (3) evaluation of design briefs and works. The use of individual agents with different evaluation criteria, preferences and roles enriches the scope and diversity of the simulations. The results of the experiments conducted with artificial creative language systems demonstrate the expansion of design spaces by generating compositional utterances representing novel concepts among design agents using language features and weighted context free grammars. They can be used to computationally explore the roles of language in creative design, and possibly point to computational applications. Understanding the evolution of artificial languages may provide insights into human languages, especially those features that support creativity

Appreciative Inquiry summits and organizational knowledge creation: A social systems perspective

The purpose of this exploratory study is to develop alternative models for analyzing the systems dynamics of a large group conference format called appreciative inquiry (AI) summits. I apply Luhmann’s social systems theory to the strategizing activities of AI summits to examine how this particular format is capable of generating organizational knowledge. An AI summit is a strategic planning conference in which hundreds of internal and external stakeholders collectively design the future of the organization through structured activities. It applies the principles of AI, a consulting method used in organizational development that attends to the positive aspects of an organization as opposed to its problems. Critics challenge this unconditional focus on the positive, questioning the validity of its methods and techniques. Indeed, very few rigorous evaluations of AI methods including AI summits exist. I propose a new approach for assessing the effectiveness of AI summits. I focus on knowledge creation as the dependent variable. Previous studies have shown that successful AI interventions generate new knowledge, not just transformational change. I conceptualize an AI summit as a strategic episode that allows an organization to temporarily suspend its routines and structures for strategic reflection. According to social systems theory, organizations are autopoietic (self-reproducing) systems that maintain their identity through an ongoing production of decision communications. An AI summit consists of three different types of systems that co-evolve and are structurally coupled: an organization system, interaction system and the individual participants’ psychological systems. I propose a typology for analyzing episodes during an AI summit as a starting point for determining the structural dynamics inherent in an AI summit system. Using illustrative examples from a case study, I identify five structural features of an AI summit that facilitate organizational knowledge creation, including reduced communication barriers and the production of decisions during the conference. The study contributes to the existing literature by identifying the important but understudied role of self-organizing project teams in the knowledge creation process at an AI summit. Limitations and implications are discussed

A Design-Science-Research Approach

Neue Organisationsformen, wie evolutionäre Organisationen, bilden in vielen Kooperationsszenarien sozio-technische Konstrukte mit modernen CSCW Anwendungen aus. Daher erfordern Veränderungen dieser sozialen Systeme eine kontinuierliche Anpassung der technischen Tools an die neuen sozialen Konfigurationen. Diese Dissertation ist als Design Science Research (DSR) Projekt konzipiert und addressiert die folgende Forschungsfrage (RQ): “Wie können soziotechnische, evolutionäre Organisationen die Herausforderungen der joint optimization und des organizational choice während ihrer autopoietischen Veränderungsprozesse addressieren?” Die Fallstudie Viva con Agua de St. Pauli e.V. wurde mittels qualitativer und ethnographischer Methoden im Rahmen der entsprechenden DSR Zyklen untersucht. Das Forschungsprojekt fokussiert die Entwicklung von Artefakten indem sowohl eine technische, als auch eine soziale Perspektive eingenommen wird. Aus der technische Perspektive wird die RQ durch eine Microservice-Plattform adressiert. Die Architektur dient der Verteilung von Verantwortlichkeit für die Software in einem heterogenen Netzwerk von Entwickler:innen. Dabei müssen diverse neue Herausforderungen beachtet werden, wie etwa die Verteilung des User Interface. Durch die Betrachtung der RQ aus der sozialen Perspektive wird der USMU Workshop entwickelt. Dieses Artefakt dient der Verbindung der Charakteristika evolutionärer Organisationen mit agiler Software Entwicklung und mit Methoden des partizipativen Designs. Die Studien zeigen, dass beide Artefakte die RQ adressieren. Zudem konnte ich für beide Artefakte wertvolle Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten aufzeigen. Somit motivieren die Ergebnisse den nächsten Schritt des Projekts und die vorliegende Thesis wird Bestandteil des zyklischen Ablaufs eines DSR Projekts.The emergence of new types of organizational structures, such as evolutionary-teal organizations, almost always leads to the development of socio-technical constructs when it comes to working in collaboration with modern CSCW applications. A consequence of this is that the social system’s autopoietic change processes create challenges that compel one to adjust the implementation of the technical tool to the social system’s new configuration. This thesis is structured according to the design science research (DSR) approach and focuses on the research question (RQ): “How can socio-technical evolutionary-teal organizations address the challenges of joint optimization and organizational choice during their autopoietic processes?” For this purpose, the case study Viva con Agua de St. Pauli e.V. is investigated using a qualitative ethnographical approach during the DSR cycles. Addressing the RQ, two artifacts are designed from a technical as well as a social perspective. While the technical perspective primarily investigates the adjustments of technology, the social perspective focuses on the management of change in socio-technical evolutionary-teal organizations. I propose a microservice platform as an artifact that addresses the RQ from a technical perspective. The microservice architecture aims at spreading the responsibility for the software through a heterogeneous ecosystem of developers. The newly designed USMU workshop is addressing the RQ from the social perspective. It strives to intertwine the characteristics of evolutionary-teal organizations with agile software development and participatory design methods. In my studies, I examine the fact that both artifacts can be used to address the RQ. Additionally, I was able to identify valuable improvements for both of my artifacts. Hence, the project follows the lifecycle of a DSR project by reasoning through the results presented here for its next iteration

The inter/trans-disciplinary balancing act: the exclusive/inclusive determinants, processes, and consequences that impact our socio-economic systems

In order to understand present conditions and the complexities, a review of past thinking that links us to a range of future, emergent possibilities may be necessary. Financial, digital and social landscapes are seldom static and those with the responsibility of maintaining and striving for natural-socioeconomic equilibrium, have a never-ending task of sweeping back a dynamic, systemic tide. The undesirable impacts of an unbalanced ICT (information, communication technology) focus based progress was voiced almost two decades ago by Huesing and Selhofer (2002), an argument that was reflected in the term 'info-exclusion'. Observations regarding the digital age being 'not so much as exclusion from information but rather by information' (ibid). This discussion relates purely to humans, not consider other species and other impacts. Fast-forwarding to current experiences and observations, and we see how the close links between societal structures, financial landscapes and individuals currently interact. There seem to be echos from the past regarding basic questions of imbalance between the pace of ICT infrastructures, and the skills sets or accessibility of the societies it strives to service. This imbalance seems to suggest an emergent result, one of disconnection (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015) but also cyclical, emergent impact (Nousala & Whyte, 2010) that repeats when the imbalance approaches a tipping point between the determining elements of the natural-socioeconomic fabric