Collectives and How They Move: A Tale of Two Classifications

Collective phenomena and their associated movement patterns are ubiquitous in everyday life. However, even though we need to be able to reason about these phenomena, especially their movement patterns, research suggests that we do not currently possess the tools for doing so. Research has been carried out into the movement patterns of particular types of collective but there appears to be no research into the range of different movement patterns exhibited by collective phenomena as a class. In order to provide such a tool it is crucial that we understand the relation between the different types of collectives and the various movement patterns that they may exhibit. By means of examples, this paper compares a classification of collectives and a classification of movement patterns. A number of possible links are suggested and the need for a more comprehensive classification of movement patterns sensitive to the different kinds of collective is highlighted. Such a system could be integrated with the current classification of collective phenomena to form a more comprehensive system that once formalised, may allow the representation of a wide range of collective phenomena within an ontology.