A Glossary of Words
Methodologies - Identifiable
techniques that can be widely used in the area of study. Assumed
to be of broad use. A technique of limited use is not a methodology.
Likely this would not refer to a theory or approach to a general
problem.
Self-organizing -
(preferred over emerging) the ability of a distributed system to exhibit
global structures
or dynamics from local rules or
interactions.
Emergent - as in an
emergent property: one which cannot be observed locally in the subsystems,
but only as a global structure or dynamic. We limit the usage to an
emergent property or structure and not as an emergent system.
Complexity- Generally
avoided as an overused and poorly defined word, except in specific
systems.
Diversity - Diversity
is a property of a group, not of an individual, and is defined to be
the degree of unique contributions within a group in which its constituents
have a common "world view" (see Johnson for
a mathematical description). Applying this definition, if all the individuals
within a group have identical contributions, then the group has zero
diversity, although the contributions of the individuals may encompass
all possible variations of the system. If each individual contributes
a unique contribution not shared by others, then the diversity of a
group is a maximum. The restriction to a common construct of the world
is necessary, because comparisons between different constructs are
not meaningful.
Experiments- activities
that produce data or test concepts. Simulations are a subset of experiments,
which are abstracted from the system that they model (or simulate).
Agents - an entity
that moves through a system of interest - it has processing
capability and memory (also see nodal). An agent includes people
as well as "artificial" agents. Agents have the perspective of moving
through informational space and not being restricted to a specific
location in space. In numerical methods this concept is analogous to
a Lagrangian treatment or approach. Hence, usage includes: agent approach,
agent behavior, agent perspective, agent methods, etc. Note that an
agent can be defined in a discrete space (a graph) in a nodal representation
without loss of functionality, but only if all nodes contain the agent
capability.
Nodes/nodal- (opposite
of agent). Nodes have the perspective of being restricted to
a specific location in space and not moving through informational space.
In numerical methods this concept is analogous to an Eulerian treatment
or approach. Hence, useful usage includes: nodal approach, nodal perspective,
nodal methods, etc.
Problem solving - used
in both a traditional sense of the act of a centralized problem solver,
either a human or organization or a computing system. And also in the
less accepted sense of a "solution" found by a self-organizing system.
If the solution is a global property that is not observable locally,
then it is an emergent property.
Collective- either
a group of individuals, typically autonomous, that exhibit self-organizing
behavior as a group
