Sharing the Local Knowledge of Water Technologies Through Multi-Agent Indexing Systems

Abstract

Many research debates are recently facing the role of technologies in boosting community development through the raising of the knowledge of agents. As a matter of fact, only capital-intensive technologies have increasingly dominated throughout centuries with wide and large impacts over populated areas. However, during the last couple of decades, many social, financial, environmental concerns have spread dramatically worldwide. Consequently, a new interest has been placed on lowimpact, local and small-scale technologies, challenging large technologies with significant outcomes.
The abilities and knowledge of local populations represent the critical added value of such small technologies. Being local-based, intrinsically they are not provided with formal methodologies and technical language, so fatally inducing poor levels of knowledge sharing and generalization. Yet, the usefulness of local-based technologies is increasingly coming out often succeeding where more formal technologies had previously failed.
ANTINOMOS project aims at creating a real learning environment for the mutual, shared generation of knowledge.
This subject is discussed in the present paper with a crossdisciplinary, cross-scale, multi-agent approach, considering the different forms of local knowledge and language involved.