Collective Intelligence

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Collective Intelligence
RealMedia video (in the age of YouTube, seeing a Realmedia video seems so... quaint) of a discussion of collective intelligence - though I was intrested in the remarks on patterns. "The patterns he uncovered in the data collected from his name badges and from email and more traditional documentation, demonstrated the significance of social dynamics in workplace productivity. Certain individuals acted as information bottlenecks; others as polarizers, group thinkers, or gossip mongers. Pentland shared information about these patterns of communication with individuals. Related technology might be able to detect depression by examining a person's patterns of socialization." Machines could probably detect depression - and other illnesses - in communications patterns. More...