2006/02/01 by Sergi Valverde, Guy Théraulaz, Valverde, Sergi +7
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #FOS: Physical sciences #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0602003
openalex publication_date 2006/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Understanding the complex dynamics of communities of software developers requires a view of such organizations as a network of interacting agents involving both goals and constraints. Beyond their special features, these systems display some overall patterns of organization not far from the ones seen in other types of organizations, including both natural and artificial entities. By looking at both software developers and social insects as agents interacting in a complex network, we found common statistical patterns of organization. Here, simple self-organizing processes leading to the formation of hierarchies in wasp colonies and open source communities are studied. Our analysis further validates simple models of formation of wasp hierarchies based on individual learning. In the open source community, a few members are clearly distinguished from the rest of the community with different reinforcement mechanisms.