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Collective Intelligence seems simple right? When first asked to define this term I went onto Google and searched the definition. Like everything these days there are so many opinions and attitudes expressed online so my understanding of this term became complicated and complex. To further simplify my understanding I defined the individual components that made up the term. Collective was the easiest to define, simply meaning shared or joint. However Intelligence became hazy. In the digital age the understanding of intelligence became different from person to person. It used to mean your intellectual ability, however these days you may not be academically smart however a genius with working with people or in aspects of design. To play it safe I went to my synonyms settings- thank you Microsoft- and defined intelligence as brainpower, communication and solving.

 

The term was created by Levy and de Kerckhove in order to refer to the capacity of networked ICTs enhancing the extent of social knowledge while expanding human interactions through communication networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and QQ to name a few.  These will also generate new knowledge as well as enhancing the ability to codify, store, and retrieve knowledge through collective access to networked databases (Terry Flew, 2008).

Because of these specialized and genre specific networks it has become easier to retrieve information. For example Linked in targets career minded professionals or MySpace concentrating on the music and entertainment business saving time when you are only interested in a certain aspect (A World of Connections, 2010). Generally it is the shared intelligence that develops collaboration and competition or as Thomas W. Malone would define it, groups of individuals working together in ways that appear intelligently.