Open Problems in Distributed Communities

The usefulness of the notion of distributed computation as a mere collection of self-sufficient individuals, sharing little more than the data on which they operate, is drawing to a close. With the introduction of myriad differing platforms, wireless devices and interactive protocols, the level of cooperation between participants must increase, in order for work to be organized and effected, on the fly. Distributed communities, literally groupings of individuals sharing a pervasive context, are a necessary mechanism for resolving the general problem of the lack of efficiency inherent in the rigid and atomic mode of cooperation which is the norm in distributed systems today.