Modelling the index of collective intelligence in online community projects

Abstract

The recent successes of systems like Google, Wikipedia or InnoCentive suggest that individuals and groups can more effectively create valuable intellectual products by acting on the basis of a collective intelligence (CI) (Malone et al, 2012). The subject of our research paper is online community projects which include collective decision making tools and innovation mechanisms allowing and enc ouraging individual and team creativity, entrepreneurship, on line collabo ration, new forms of self-regulation an d self-governance by considering these projects as being catal yst for emergence of CI. Our quantitative research explored the extent an d major trends of the engagement and pa rticipation of Lith uanian society in online community projects and have proved the necessity to search for tools fost ering civic engagemen t and collective decision making. The objective of our research project is the in tention to propose managerial, so cial and legal measures for the stimulation of the process. T he first step by implementing th is ambitious task is to define a set of criteria for measuring Collective intelligence in networked platforms. In this paper we are introducing the theoretical model for CI Potential Index for a scientific discussion. The methodology will allow to identify and analyze conditions th at lead online communities to become more collective intelligent: inclus ive, reflective and safe. The CI Potential Index will show the state and dynamics of the CI according to changes of various inte rnal and external paramete rs. The data necessary for the identification of the CI Potential Index dimensions were collected during the quant itative and qualitative research and will be revised during the scientific experiment. A longitudinal observation of a number of networked platforms will be undertaken to measure agreed representative parameters.