A Knowledge-Construction Perspective on Human Computing, Collaborative Behavior and New Trends in System Interactions

This article presents an analysis of collaborative behavior within the historical process of the construction of scientific thought. We start from evidence that the origin of computing was immersed in a conceptual background heavily dominated by structuring thought, resulting in a mode of thinking organized around a centralized unit, strengthening categorization, disciplinarity and a predominant dichotomous logic. However, the new settings in which computer systems are involved, such as collaborative behavior and human computation, reveal a mode of thought and organization within an acentered model of realization. Sociology of knowledge helps us to understand this dynamic, allowing us to verify that the rhizomatic model of realization embraces not only what is traditionally viewed as the setting of computer systems, but also extends to the way of thinking, organization and operation of collective relations around computer systems.