# Stigmergy [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigmergy) ( 1959–present ) ## Description Stigmergy — a mechanism of indirect coordination in which agents communicate not directly but through traces left in a shared environment (as with termite mound-building or ant pheromone trails) — extended into self-organizing and adversarial human and computational systems, including security and swarm-mapping applications. ## Key Tags #stigmergy #self-organization ## Essential Works - Lugosky, Jean, and Rick Dove. "Understanding Stigmergy as a Pattern in Self-Organizing Adversarial Systems of Systems." *INSIGHT* 14, no. 2 (2011): 37–41. - Applies stigmergy to adversarial/security systems-of-systems - Van Dyke Parunak, H. "A Survey of Environments and Mechanisms for Human-Human Stigmergy." In *Environments for Multi-Agent Systems II*. Springer, 2006. - Broad survey grounding stigmergy in human (not just insect) coordination ## Details ### Key Theorists %% none yet %% ### Exemplary Practitioners %% none yet %% ### Related Concepts %% none yet %% ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Associated Movements or Institutions %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %% ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Lugosky, Jean, and Rick Dove. "Understanding Stigmergy as a Pattern in Self‐Organizing Adversarial Systems of Systems." *INSIGHT* 14, no. 2 (2011): 37–41. [https://doi.org/10.1002/inst.201114237](https://doi.org/10.1002/inst.201114237). Lugosky, Jena, and Rick Dove. "Identifying Agile Security Patterns in Adversarial Stigmergic Systems." *INCOSE International Symposium* 21, no. 1 (2011): 3338–54. [https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2011.tb01315.x](https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2011.tb01315.x). "A Brief History of Stigmergy." ResearchGate. Accessed September 24, 2025. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12680033_A_Brief_History_of_Stigmergy](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12680033_A_Brief_History_of_Stigmergy). Schacher, Jan C., Daniel Bisig, and Philippe Kocher. "The Map and the Flock: Emergence in Mapping with Swarm Algorithms." *Computer Music Journal* 38, no. 3 (2014): 49–63. [https://doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00256](https://doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00256). Van Dyke Parunak, H. "A Survey of Environments and Mechanisms for Human-Human Stigmergy." In *Environments for Multi-Agent Systems II*, ed. Danny Weyns, H. Van Dyke Parunak, and Fabien Michel, vol. 3830. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006. [https://doi.org/10.1007/11678809_10](https://doi.org/10.1007/11678809_10).