Holonic Architecture
Last updated
Last updated
haelp is an agent-centric, not organization-centric software like all the other collaboration & community tools out there. We combine the features of a social network with those of collaboration software and through that create a unique set of possibilities that have not been seen before.
Before addressing the architecture behind haelp, let's look at some other terms first.
A holon is something that is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, as well as a part of a larger whole. In other words, holons can be understood as the constituent part–wholes of a hierarchy.
The holon represents a way to overcome the dichotomy between parts and wholes, as well as a way to account for both the self-assertive and the integrative tendencies of organisms. The term was coined by in (1967). In Koestler's formulations, a holon is something that has integrity and identity while simultaneously being a part of a larger ; it is a of a greater system.
"Everywhere we look in nature we see nothing but wholes." - Mark Edwards
An individual holon possesses a dominant ; that is, it possesses a definable 'I-ness'. An individual holon is discrete, self-contained, and also demonstrates the quality of agency, or self-directed behavior.
The individual holon, although a discrete and self-contained whole, is made up of parts; in the case of a human, examples of these parts would include the heart, lungs, liver, brain, spleen, etc. When a human exercises agency, taking a step to the left, for example, the entire holon, including the constituent parts, moves together as one unit.
A social holon does not possess a dominant monad; it possesses only a definable 'we-ness', as it is a collective made up of individual holons.
In addition, rather than possessing discrete agency, a social holon possesses what is defined as nexus agency. An illustration of nexus agency is best described by a flock of : each goose is an individual holon, the flock makes up a social holon; although the flock moves as one unit when flying, and is "directed" by the choices of the lead goose, the flock itself is not mandated to follow that lead goose. Another way to consider this would be collective activity that has the potential for independent internal activity at any given moment.
A of holons is called a , which Koestler defines as a hierarchy of self-regulating holons that function (a) as autonomous wholes in supra-ordination to their parts; (b) as dependent parts in sub-ordination to controls on higher levels; or (c) in co-ordination with their local environment. The holarchic model can be seen as an attempt to modify and modernise perceptions of natural hierarchy..
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Every cell can have an unlimited number of relationships to / connections with other cells. Depending on the cell type option, a cell can only connect with other allowed cell type options.
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Our holonic architecture allows for limitless, transparent and silo-free connections between tasks, communities, resources and any other type of cell — so you can create your own digital safe-spaces & custom network perspectives (a.k.a feeds) to make sense out of things the way you like.
Let's assume you have a question of some sort that you'd like others help you solve. Now, let's look at how you would go about that with our conventional solutions such as Facebook on the side of a social network and Trello on the side of collaboration software.
On Facebook, you could do one or all of the following things: You register with the network and post your question as a string of text. This post - or in your case the question - can now either be made public and literally be found and seen by everyone in the network, or private. If you make a post private you only allow it to be seen by your "friends" a.k.a social connections which implies that you'd have to have "friends" in order to get your question answered to begin with. Apart from your personal friends, you can choose to join several other "groups" that might give you some more influence on and control over "narrowing-down" and targeting your question to a group of people that might actually be able to help you solve it based on the interest or expertise that is required to being able to solve your question. [...] Let's assume you go about all these different ways of approaching your question, you'd have to create one post for each of those groups! Meaning, if you like to achieve the greatest reach for your question and invite as many people as possible to help you solve it, you'd be looking at a lot of research and posting work. On top of that, once posted in all these groups that could potentially help you solve your question, you'd have a hard time letting others know if your question has been solved already elsewhere or if it has become irrelevant to you or whatever other update you'd want to put out there about your question you'd have to manage all of those posts individually. [...]
With haelp you don't don't need any social connections to begin with nor have to join several different groups you want to post your question to in order to have the greatest reach and impact in having your question solved and answered as fast and efficiently as possible — as a matter of fact this is exactly the task the holonic architecture of haelp prides itself in: you as the agent create your "question-cell" once and then a) define strengths a.k.a "filters" that potential helpers shall have to solve it and post it out into the public to have our SMI match the best potential helpers with your question AND / OR b) create parent connections a.k.a "affiliations" or "endorsements" around your question-cell. The latter can be done by yourself OR by others if the come across your question and think that your question could fit well into a community they are part of.
On Trello, [...]