Dynamic Complexity of Cooperation-Based Self-Organizing Commercial Networks in the First Global Age (DynCoopNet)

第一全球化时代基于合作的自组织商业网络的动态复杂性（DynCoopNet）

• 批准号: 0740345
• 负责人: John Owens
• 金额: $ 39.4万
• 依托单位: Idaho State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-10-01 至 2010-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0740345&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dynamic; Complexity; Cooperation; Based; Self

This collaborative research project (CRP) addresses the program "The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading" (TECT) through an examination of the evolution of cooperation tying together the self-organizing commercial networks of the first global age (1400-1800). The CRP will produce new theoretical insights about cooperation in the context of the dynamic complex system of which these evolving networks were a part. Through a convergence of methods unusual in the historical social sciences, the CRP will reveal the mechanisms of cooperation that permitted merchants and others to establish and sustain these often long-distance trading networks. In the social science literature, it is often asserted that greater human cooperation in trading became possible with the increasing effectiveness of state or similar institutions. However, these networks were characterized by a diffusion of authority and frequently by-passed the segmented political hierarchies characteristic of the period's governments. Moreover, these networks served as the source of the creativity and innovation necessary to respond in a flexible manner to the era's endemic disruptions to transportation and capital flows. Focused archival research and an extensive review of published information will create a shared database, provided to public archives, with a sufficient variety and quantity of data about the neglected topic of cooperation during the first era of globalization to increase confidence in the CRP's analyses. The CRP employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a data integration engine and visualization tool to bring together layers of information necessary to understand the high levels of cooperation. The CRP uses spatial statistics and mathematical modeling to compensate for incomplete data due to the fragmentary survival of sources and to discern the possible impact of layers of interaction of which there are few surviving traces. It also utilizes various types of mathematical modeling to explore the emergence of new forms and cause-and-effect relationships, to validate or corroborate hypotheses, and to identify unexpected tendencies or trends. The mathematical expressions identified for these purposes will form the basis for the creation of a temporal GIS to facilitate the discovery and understanding of dynamics in a complex, non-linear system. One of the great contemporary research challenges, which DynCoopNet addresses, is to find a way to understand such a dynamic, non-linear, complex system over a period of four centuries. Moreover, because so much of the cooperation in trading that sustained these connections cannot be easily explained, the collaborative research will make available a body of historical, ethnographic data and resulting empirical generalizations of the evolution of cooperation, which can be used to evaluate available theories. Through DynCoopNet's advances in GIS and mathematical modeling, Owens will make an original contribution to his discipline by employing concepts and techniques of abstraction and visualization with which the historical social sciences are generally unfamiliar. The DynCoopNet CRP promotes considerable international, multi-disciplinary collaboration for research, publication, and database distribution. It has launched Idaho State University's innovative new internship- and GIS-based Master's degree program in geographically-integrated history, the M.A. in Historical Resources Management (MHRM), of which Owens is co-creator. The students funded through DynCoopNet will have internship opportunities in other countries and will participate in networking meetings in Europe, which will help create a cohort of transformative leaders in the discipline. Moreover, because of the higher percentage of women and minorities among history majors, NSF funding will help attract such students into a technologically rich educational and employment environment in which these groups are currently underrepresented.

这一合作研究项目(CRP)通过考察合作的演变，将第一个全球时代(1400-1800年)的自组织商业网络联系在一起，解决了“合作与贸易的演变”(TVET)计划。合作伙伴关系将在动态的复杂系统的背景下产生关于合作的新的理论见解，这些不断演变的网络是该系统的一部分。通过汇聚历史社会科学中不同寻常的方法，CRP将揭示允许商人和其他人建立和维持这些往往是远程贸易网络的合作机制。在社会科学文献中，经常有人断言，随着国家或类似机构的效率不断提高，人类在交易中的更大合作成为可能。然而，这些网络的特点是权力分散，经常绕过那个时期政府特有的分割的政治等级。此外，这些网络是以灵活方式应对这个时代特有的交通和资本流动中断所必需的创造力和创新的源泉。有重点的档案研究和对已公布信息的广泛审查将创建一个共享数据库，提供给公共档案馆，其中有关于全球化第一时代被忽视的合作专题的足够多种类和数量的数据，以增加对《方案》分析的信心。合作伙伴关系利用地理信息系统(地理信息系统)作为数据集成引擎和可视化工具，将理解高水平合作所需的各层信息汇集在一起。核心能力方案使用空间统计和数学模型来补偿由于震源残存碎片而造成的不完整数据，并辨别相互作用层的可能影响，而这些相互作用层几乎没有幸存的痕迹。它还利用各种类型的数学建模来探索新形式和因果关系的出现，验证或证实假设，并确定意外的趋势或趋势。为这些目的确定的数学表达式将构成创建时态地理信息系统的基础，以促进发现和理解复杂、非线性系统中的动力学。DyCoopNet解决的当代重大研究挑战之一是找到一种方法来理解这样一个动态的、非线性的、复杂的系统在四个世纪的时间里。此外，由于维持这些联系的贸易合作很难解释，合作研究将提供大量历史、民族志数据，以及由此产生的合作演变的经验总结，这些数据可用于评估现有的理论。通过DyCoopNet在地理信息系统和数学建模方面的进步，欧文斯将通过使用历史社会科学通常不熟悉的抽象和可视化的概念和技术，为他的学科做出原创性的贡献。动态CoopNet CRP促进了在研究、出版和数据库分发方面的大量国际、多学科合作。它推出了爱达荷州立大学在地理综合历史方面创新的新实习和基于地理信息系统的硕士学位项目，历史资源管理(MHRM)硕士项目，欧文斯是该项目的共同创建者。通过DyCoopNet资助的学生将有机会在其他国家实习，并将参加欧洲的网络会议，这将有助于在该学科培养一批变革性的领导者。此外，由于女性和少数族裔在历史专业的比例较高，国家科学基金会的资助将有助于吸引这些学生进入一个技术丰富的教育和就业环境，而这些群体目前在这个环境中的代表性不足。