Learning and Sharing Technology in Informal Contexts: A Multiagent-Based Supporting Approach

An interesting debate is growing today about the roles of new and traditional technologies in raising knowledge of agents involved, as well as in boosting effective community development. The last century has been largely dominated by capital-intensive technologies, impacting large and populated areas. From the 1990s, due to social, financial, environmental concerns, new low-impact, local-born, little to medium-scale experiences have grown, with interesting results. The importance of local-based technologies seems to lay on the abilities and knowledge of local populations, which are quite difficult to emerge as formal and shared methodologies. Yet they often succeed where traditional technologies had failed. In this paper, the EU-funded Antinomos project is discussed, dealing with local knowledge raising in the water sector. The study carries out a cross-disciplinary, cross-scale, multi-agent approach, to create a real learning environment for the sharing and the active generation of local knowledge in the water sector.