Distributed knowledge is a term used in multi-agent system research that refers to all the knowledge that a community of agents possesses and might apply in solving a problem. Distributed knowledge is approximately what "a wise man knows" or what someone who has complete knowledge of what each member of the communities knows. Distributed knowledge might also be called the aggregate knowledge of a community, as it represents all the knowledge that a community might bring to bear to solve a problem. Other related phrasings include cumulative knowledge, collective knowledge, pooled knowledge, or the wisdom of the crowd. Distributed knowledge is the union of all the knowledge of individuals in a community.
In contrast, common knowledge of a community is what everyone in the community knows. Common knowledge is the intersection of the knowledge of each individual in the community. Distributed knowledge is often confused with the term dispersed knowledge from economics. However, dispersed knowledge is information that is widely available, and hence more like common knowledge.
Distributed knowledge is related to the concept The Wisdom of the Crowds. Distributed knowledge reflects the fact that "no one of us is as smart as all of us."
References
R. Fagin, J. Y. Halpern, Y. Moses, and M. Y. Vardi. Reasoning about Knowledge, The MIT Press, 1995. ISBN 0-262-56200-6
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