writing hybrid narratives as a swarm
DESCRIPTION
This is the theoretical explanation for running design experiments with hybrid narratives as swarms.TRANSCRIPT
Wri$ng narra$ves as a swarm
Kai Pata
Swarming
• Describes self‐organizing behavior in popula$ons by which local interac0ons between decentralized simple agents can create complex global swarming behavior.
• Every agent is only responsible for its individual ac$ons.
• Swarm intelligence refers to systems which accomplish complex global tasks through the simple local interac$ons of autonomous agents.
• Swarm intelligence relies upon the emergent proper$es of its components to manifest itself. Emergence is the process by which complex paAerns form out of the interac$on of simpler rules.
Examples
Interrela$ons in swarm
• An individual must maintain an iden$ty throughout its existence.
• An individual must sa$sfy its viability (capability of normal growth and development) condi$ons while interac$ng in its environment.
• The team has collec$ve intelligence if the viability of the group as a whole is required for each individual to sustain viability.
Swarm‐individual viability
• In social swarms individuals rely on the swarm behaviour.
• Swarm level ac$vi$es create condi$ons for viability.
Social soIware
mashing
pulling
social retrieval INDIVIDUAL AS A NARRATOR
Types of communica$on in swarms
• altering the environment • reading informa0on from the environment
For example, when an individual finds some loca$on of interest it deposits a chemical signal, which draws other agents to it.
By using this method the environment itself becomes a shared memory.
AAractors are leI on the trail
• Foraging is a behavior of loca$ng food and transpor$ng it back to the nest.
• The ants are individuals responding to their own sensory informa$on and pheromone signals.
• Pheromones are chemical basis for ant communica$on deposited/detected by ants.
Deposit a;ractant pheromone on the trail from food. Follow the pheromone up its concentra0on gradient to the source. Increase pheromone concentra0on to aAract more. This posi0ve feedback loop produces a swarm of ants to quickly transport the food source.
Individuals become trail markers • For a low density of individuals it is beneficial to use linear chains to form a path for search.
• With high density of individuals, a more branched structure is a beAer choice for search.
Campo & Dorigo, 2008
AAractor is connected with building blocks In the first, a termite picks up a soil pellet, mas$cates it into a paste and injects a termite‐ aArac$ng pheromone into it. When the pellet is deposited, the pheromone s$mulates nearby termites to pellet‐gathering behavior and makes them more likely to deposit their pellets nearby. Second, small obstacles in the terrain s$mulate pellet deposits and can seed pillars. Finally, a trail pheromone allows more workers to be drawn to a construc$on site. Building the termite nest is a swarming behavior
Individual search
Detec$ng aAractor object
Collec$ng and leaving signal trail
Selected no$cing
Following the signal trail
Modified signal
Feedback loop from the
environment
Analogy
Increasing pheromone concentra$on
Detect the signal disturbance
False pheromone
Finding food
Fading in $me
Quan$ta$ve defini$on of swarm intelligence
• Performance gains through swarming occurs when a cri0cal mass of agents come together and enter a posi0ve feedback loop.
• Explicit use of the environment in agent interac$ons means that environmental dynamics are directly integrated into the system’s control, and in fact can enhance system performance.
Narra$ve cues in swarms
• Swarms are communi$es in which decision‐making takes place based on cues/traces leI by individual swarm members in the environment or picked up from their real ac$vi$es.
• These cues may be small narra$ve or visual pierces or longer stories.
Individual search
Detec$ng aAractor object
Collec$ng and leaving signal trail
Selected no$cing
Following the signal trail
Modifying the signal
Previous experience
Feedback loop from the
environment
Dis$nguishing feature
Analogy
Increasing aAractor concentra$on
Detect the signal disturbance
Wri$ng narra$ve, mashing, tagging, geo‐tagging
No$cing a story
Collabora$ng, cloning the story
Expanding, transla$ng, interpre$ng
Abduc$on New story
Wri$ng narra$ves as a swarm
Visibility
Surveillance
• Par$cipa$ng in social networks resides on social surveillance.
• However, when many transac$ons are aggregated, pa;erns become visible.
• Narra$ve paAerns may be used to assemble a detailed profile revealing the ac$ons, habits, beliefs, loca$ons frequented, social connec$ons, and preferences of the individual.
• Swarms can use it as environmental informa$on to adopt them be;er to the environment.
Sousveillance [suːˈveɪləns]
• Involves community‐based recording of an ac$vity from the perspec$ve of a par$cipant in the ac$vity.
• Personal sousveillance is the art, science, and technology of personal experience capture, processing, storage, retrieval, and transmission.
Story of “red”
Marke$ng swarms by Chuck Brymer
• Today, we are dealing with a swarm where people gather and deposit informa$on with the collec$ve intelligence of an en$re social network.
• Ul$mately the swarm decides whether your brand is a peer or a predator, and does so quickly and disrup$vely.
• Since you only control part of this informa$on, it will become more cri$cal than ever to engage the people who influence swarm communi0es.
• Once a swarm has been launched, human overseers can observe its emerging behavior and intervene on an excep0on basis.
Untrustworthy communica$on is possible
• An enemy trying to conceal the search target, may spread false signals to aAract the agents to a loca$on of liAle interest.
• Strategy: respond to an external signal only if it passes a threshold value.
• Strategy: in case of detected communica$on disturbance enter to an isola0on state for a $me and act independently not responding to external signals.
Ques$ons
• What kind of aAractors work in the hybrid ecology swarms?
• Can these aAractors be used for triggering marke$ng swarms?
• Monitoring swarm paAerns becomes essen$al to sell beAer, to trigger for swarming, but how can we monitor automa$cally?
• Can we avoid being monitored without harming swarming? What and where to restrict access, and think of security?