This book treats the computational use of social concepts as the focal point for the realisation of a novel class of socio-technical systems, comprising smart grids, public display environments, and grid computing.

These systems are composed of technical and human constituents that interact with each other in an open environment. Heterogeneity, large scale, and uncertainty in the behaviour of the constituents and the environment are the rule rather than the exception.

Ensuring the trustworthiness of such systems allows their technical constituents to interact with each other...

The book shows practical examples of architectures for OC systems and their applications in traffic control, grid computing, sensor networks, robotics, and smart camera systems. The extension of single OC systems into collective systems consisting of social agents based on concepts like trust and reputation is explained.