A Wiki-based collective intelligence approach to formulate a body of knowledge (BOK) for a new discipline

This paper describes a wiki-based collective intelligence approach to provide a system environment that enables users to formulate a body of knowledge (BOK) for a new discipline, such as social informatics. When the targeted discipline is mature, for example, computer science, its BOK can be straightforwardly formulated by a task force using a top-down approach. However, in the case of a new discipline, it is presumed that nobody has a comprehensive understanding of it; therefore, the formulation of BOK in such a field can be carried out using a bottom-up approach. In other words, a collective intelligence approach supporting such work seems promising. This paper proposes the BOK+ which is a novel BOK formulation principle for new disciplines. To realize this principle, the BOK Constructor is designed and prototyped where Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) is used to provide its basic functions. The BOK Constructor consists of a BOK Editor, SMW, Uploader, and BOK Miner. Most of the fundamental functions of the BOK Constructor, with the exception of the BOK Miner, were implemented. We validated that the BOK Constructor serves its intended purpose.