System and method for real-time chat and decision-making in large groups using hyper-connected human populations over a computer network

Abstract

Systems and methods for computer-moderated collaboration, communication, and collective intelligence among a large population of human participants using a plurality of networked computing devices. This includes systems and methods for sending and presenting a query to a plurality of participants, each participant using a networked computing device, the query describing a question to be collaboratively answered by the population of human participants. A plurality of unique overlapping sub-populations of participants are determined by the server. Unique overlapping subpopulations are used to propagate information across the full population of human participants, facilitating collaboration, communication, and collective intelligence.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for computer-moderated collaboration among a population of human participants using a plurality of networked computing devices, the method comprising: providing a collaboration server running a collaboration application, the collaboration server in communication with the plurality of the networked computing devices, each computing device associated with one participant; providing a local collaboration application on each networked computing device, the local collaboration application configured for displaying a query to and collecting input from the one participant associated with that networked computing device; and
 enabling through communication between the collaboration application running on the collaboration server and the local collaboration applications running on each of the plurality of networked computing devices, the following steps:   define a plurality of sub-populations and assign each participant to one of the sub-populations, wherein each sub-population is a unique subset of the full population that is smaller than the full population and sized for manageable real-time chat communication among the participants;   providing a local chat room for each sub-population to enable real-time group chat discussion and debate of said query among the members of that sub-population; send said Query to the plurality of networked computing devices, the query describing a decision to be collaboratively reached by the population of human participants; present, at substantially the same time, a representation of the query to each participant on a display of the computing device associated with that participant; collect a response from a plurality of participants via a user interface on the computing device associated with that participant;   store each response in a data structure in a memory accessible by the collaboration server, wherein each response is associated with the participant the response was collected from and the sub-population the participant is assigned to;   for a plurality of stored responses, display a representation of each response on a plurality of computing devices associated with a sub-population other than the sub-population associated with the participant who provided that response thereby enabling responses to propagate across the full population, while simultaneously allowing individual participants to interact a small sub-population that is suitably sized for manageable for real-time communication.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the full population is at least 1000 members, and wherein each sub-population is no greater than 26 members. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the responses that propagates across sub-populations are text chat messages. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the text chat messages include opinions. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least one member of at least one sub-population is randomly replaced by a member from outside a defined range of that sub-population. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sub-populations are ordered and pass information to neighboring sub-populations in that ordering. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each sub-population includes at least one member in common with another sub-population. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a series of queries is provided to the population over time and wherein at least a plurality of members assigned to unique sub-populations are shuffled to different sub-populations between queries. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the responses that propagate include sentiment information associated with participant views regarding the query. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  that further includes displaying the propagation of sentiment information as it moves across the population in visual form. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  that further includes aggregating responses from a plurality of participants across the plurality of sub-populations to generate and display a final collaborative response.