Collaborative intelligence

Collaborative Intelligence, collaborative intelligence quotient.

A measure of the collaborative ability of a group or entity. Knowledge derived from collaborative efforts is increasing proportionally to the reach of the world wide web, collaborative groupware like Skype, NetMeeting, WebEx, [iPeerAdvisory] and many others.

Overview
A situation where the knowledge and problem solving capability of a group is much greater than the knowledge possessed by an individual group member.

As groups work together they develop a shared memory. The memory is accessible through the collaborative artifacts created by the group: meeting minutes, transcripts from threaded discussions, drawings etc,. The shared memory (group memory) is also accessible through the memories of group members.

Distributed Collaborative Intelligence is the act of a group collaborating within a virtual sphere of interaction. Group members can interact in real time or asynchronously even though they are not located within the same physical space.

Technologies used to enhance Distributed Collaborative Intelligence and to facilitate group problem solving are:


 * Messaging


 * 1) Synchronous conferencing technologies like instant messaging, online chat and shared white boards.
 * 2) Asynchronous messaging like electronic mail, threaded, moderated discussion forums and web logs.


 * Stigmergy


 * 1) Wiki
 * 2) Social evolutionary computation

The ability of a group to solve a problem collectively is potentially directly proportional to the number of members in a group; however effective architecture of interaction is needed to achieve this.

Critical success factors for a high collaborative intelligence quotient are:
 * 1) Group moderation and facilitation
 * 2) Adherence to a small set of fundamental rules relate to member interaction
 * 3) No limits to thinking; or the promotion of creative thinking
 * 4) Strong group membership feedback
 * 5) Quality control. Ideas need to be nurtured, but the solutions should be upheld after a critical peer review.
 * 6) The construction of a deeply documented group memory or knowledge base