About this site
This is the companion site for an ICCC paper that argues creative media (or substrates) can be usefully read as complex systems and placed in a 9-dimensional basis of complex-systems properties: emergence, collective intelligence, non-linearity, criticality, multi-scale hierarchy, phase transitions, attractors, path dependence, and open-endedness. The paper presents the framework; the website collects ratings from readers and the community.
The 9 properties
- Emergence
Macro-level outputs unpredictable from the microscopic rules.
- Collective intelligence
Distributed knowledge production and problem-solving across many agents.
- Non-linear dynamics
Small parameter or input changes produce disproportionate output shifts.
- Criticality
The system operates at a boundary between order and disorder (edge of chaos).
- Multi-scale hierarchy
Distinct scales of organisation visible (micro → macro levels).
- Phase transitions
Qualitative regime shifts at thresholds in a control parameter.
- Attractors
Stable configurations in state space that the system converges towards.
- Path dependence
History and prior states condition future possibilities.
- Open-endedness
Unbounded generation of novelty over time.
Methodology notes
- Ratings are independent: existing ratings are not shown until after submission, to avoid anchoring bias.
- Raters are identified by a random token stored in browser localStorage. Same browser = same identity (and can update its own ratings). Cleared cookies = a new identity.
- The site collects no personal data; the only stored fields are the (medium, property, level) ratings plus an anonymous token.
- The dataset is exportable as CSV at any time; a frozen snapshot will be archived on Zenodo at paper-submission time.