A first account on stigmergic information systems and their impact on platform development

Abstract

Modern software platforms often depend on networks of user-generated content. Although such platforms are very popular, their architectural concepts and underlying system dynamics are not yet fully understood. This paper uses stigmergy, a form of indirect communication and self-organization, as basis for framing certain groups of software services in order to propose an architectural concept of stigmergic information systems and describe identified key fields (actor base, architecture, software ecosystem) influencing them. Thus enabling the creation of better solution stack configurations needed to support effective and efficient development of such services.