Due to its dispersed nature, the Institute for Advanced Architecture operates on a set of digital platforms. This refers not simply to the "given" technologies of the day, but to completely new or modified software that transforms the nature of global collaboration.
Consensus Software is an open-source platform written in PHP/MySQL and designed by the IAA to provide a digital meeting space for collectives who are unable to gather in one geographic location, yet want to follow the consensus process. The IAA holds quarterly, institute-wide meetings within this space.
Discussion Software is a broad name to describe the four parts of the Institute's day-to-day, digital communication platform:
- conventional bulletin board;
- real-time, multi-user chat utility (with searchable archive);
- non-linear document editing with implicit cross-linking;
- collaborative sketchpad
