Fluidware: A Concept for Adaptive Knowledge - Action Systems
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper introduces Fluidware as a conceptual and architectural class of digital systems that transcends the traditional separation between software, infrastructure, and human cognition. Fluidware systems operate across varying structural states - stability, flexibility, and transience - while preserving coherence of meaning, agency, and context. Rather than functioning as static tools, Fluidware environments enable a continuous coupling between digital structure and real-world action, allowing knowledge, interaction, and intention to co-evolve.In contrast to conventional knowledge graphs or tool-centric platforms, Fluidware emphasizes situated meaning, human-governed structural evolution, and context-preserving modularity. The paper positions Fluidware as a unifying framing for adaptive socio-technical systems and outlines its relevance for the design of future knowledge infrastructures and human-agentic environments.Update v1.2.1: DOI added to document, minor typographic corrections.
Author: Nagele, Johannes
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7125689475
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