Cybernetics of the Collaborative Networks Discipline

Overview & Synopsis

Collaborative Networks (CNs) research, like any other developing discipline, needs a roadmap facilitating the integration of previous results into a theoretical foundation. CN researchers argue that the required theoretical foundation must consolidate the existing body of knowledge, and provide grounding to define how to invoke results of other relevant disciplines. The authors have previously proposed the ‘Cybernetics of the Collaborative Networks’ (C2N) as a field of CN-research intended as a unified theory of CNs, formalising, synthesising, harmonising and systematising individual CN-related results addressing management and control problems in CNs. This article aims at further extending the concept of C2N and answering the question: what is a unified evolving theory of the CN discipline itself? To model the discipline-as-a-system, we use Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) and introduce three basic components of the CN discipline as a viable system. A ‘co-evolution mechanisms’ for the discipline is proposed and a cybernetic model of co-evolution is applied to the CN discipline.