  Researchers in many disciplines have previously used a variety of
mathematical techniques for analyzing group interactions. Here we use a new
metric for this purpose, called 'integrated information' or 'phi.' Phi was
originally developed by neuroscientists as a measure of consciousness in
brains, but it captures, in a single mathematical quantity, two properties that
are important in many other kinds of groups as well: differentiated information
and integration. Here we apply this metric to the activity of three types of
groups that involve people and computers. First, we find that 4-person work
groups with higher measured phi perform a wide range of tasks more effectively,
as measured by their collective intelligence. Next, we find that groups of
Wikipedia editors with higher measured phi create higher quality articles.
Last, we find that the measured phi of the collection of people and computers
communicating on the Internet increased over a recent six-year period.
Together, these results suggest that integrated information can be a useful way
of characterizing a certain kind of interactional complexity that, at least
sometimes, predicts group performance. In this sense, phi can be viewed as a
potential metric of effective group collaboration. Since the metric was
originally developed as a measure of consciousness, the results also raise
intriguing questions about the conditions under which it might be useful to
regard groups as having a kind of consciousness.
