Group Cognition Computer Support for Building Collaborative Knowledge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. The cover art pictures the cyclic struggle of collaborative interaction: Gustav Vigeland, Tum-It is one of hundreds of stone and metal artifacts showing a variety of human groupings and individual stances, created by the Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The MIT Press Acting with Technology series is concerned with the study of meaningful human activity as it is mediated by tools and technologies. The goal of the series is to publish the best new books—both research monographs and textbooks— that contribute to an understanding of technology as a crucial facet of human activity enacted in rich social and physical contexts. The focus of the series is on tool-mediated processes of working, playing, and learning in and across a wide variety of social settings. The series explores developments in postcognitivist theory and practice from the fields of sociology, communication , education, organizational studies, science and technology studies, human-computer interaction studies, and computer-supported collaborative work. It aims to encompass theoretical frameworks developed through cultural-historical activity theory, actor-network theory, distributed cognition, ethnomethodology, and grounded theory. In Group Cognition: Computer Support for Building Collaborative Knowledge, Gerry Stahl challenges us with the provocative notion that " small groups are the engines of knowledge building. " He notes that research on learning has focused on either individual cognition or the larger community. Based on his extensive experience in teaching and system building, Stahl points to the " decisive role of small groups " in learning. Stahl's contribution is to alert us to the need for a theoretical representation of small groups and their pivotal role in group cognition. He explores this theme in varied ways—empirical, theoretical, philosophical—each persuasive and thoughtful in its own way. Stahl pushes hard on the notion of group cognition, proposing that we view discourse as a " substrate for group cognition. " Discourse is defined broadly to include spoken words, inscriptions, and body language. Using these notions, Stahl hopes to position cognition in that zone of small groups where he feels it belongs, moving it away from individual " brains " but not too far into less precise entities such as community. …