Monitoring collective intelligence in Lithuania’s online communities

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a systematic survey that evaluated the potential of online communities (or Civic Tech) in Lithuania to co-create collective intelligence. Traditional approaches to public engagement remain relevant, notwithstanding, our enquiry is more interested in the growing potential of digital-enabled citizens to increase efficient collective performance. Civic intelligence is a form of collective intelligence exercised by a group’s capacity to perceive societal problems and its ability to address them effectively. The subject of the research is “bottom up” digital-enabled online platforms initiated by Lithuanian public organizations, civic movements and/or business entities. This scientific project advances our understanding about the basic preconditions in online communities through which collective intelligence is being systematically co-created. By monitoring the performance of Civic Tech platforms, the scientific question was examined, what are the socio-technological conditions that led the communities to become more intelligent. The results of web-based monitoring were obtained by applying Collective intelligence Monitoring technique and Pearson correlation analysis. This provided information about the potential and limits of online communities, and what changes may be needed to overcome such limitations.