Practices of Stigmergy in the Building Process

Actors coordinate their cooperative efforts by acting on the evidence of work previously accomplished. Based on a field study this article introduces the concept of stigmergy to the analysis of coordinative practices in the building process. It distinguishes between practices of stigmergy, articulation work and awareness practices. Stigmergy is understood as coordination achieved by acting directly on the evidence of work previously accomplished by others. The article provides descriptions of stigmergy in the building process i.e. in design as well as construction work. It seeks to (1) introduce the concept of stigmergy to CSCW, (2) to delimit this concept in regard to other concepts of coordination such as articulation work and awareness and (3) to provide descriptions of practices of stigmergy in the building process and, in this capacity, to help explain how complex large-scale cooperative work is coordinated.