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Scott Zweig assignment 7 2/18/04
1.1. interesting about the article?
I found the article to be very interesting because I had never read about distributed cognition before. The idea that cognition is socially distributed cognition is very useful in that it can help us to understand how certain processes work, like jury decision making, knowledge and memory. I never thought about how something like this could be applied on so many levels (social, philosophical, technological, etc). I was also impressed with the section about PAD++ software.
1.2. not interesting about the article?
I did not understand the study of distributed cognition done on Navy ship navigation. It was not as clear as the example that followed about airplane cockpit navigation.
2. what do you consider the main message of the article?
The main message of the article is that existing cognitive architecture models do not go far enough. And that now with a better understanding of how cognition is distributed over a vast array of contexts we can use that knowledge to build a better, new model for cognition.
3. are themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?
There was mention of social scientists studying small group problem solving and jury decision-making. It would be interesting to study a jury and as a potential lawyer I hope to learn more.
4. please describe briefly your understanding of
4.1. distributed cognition?
Distributed cognition is the idea that thoughts, ideas and other cognitive processes are spread out (“distributed” if you will) among various individuals, across many disciplines.
4.2. ethnography
Ethnography is the study of cultural tendencies. Most commonly incorporated in anthropology it provides a scientific description of individual human societies.
4.3. active representations (which is the most important example you can think of?)
I am not exactly sure. Would the speedometer on the dash of your car be one? It does tell you how fast you are traveling in real time and it can be manipulated easily.
5.1. please discuss a couple of "old foundations" for HCI
The old foundations expected all of the cognitive events to be “encompassed by the skin or skull of a (single) individual” (Hollan, Hutchins, Kirsh).
5.2. how "new" according to your knowledge are these ?new foundations?
I have no idea how “new” these ideas are but I would expect them to be somewhat cutting edge, but not exactly hot off the presses.
6. do you have any ideas how this research could / should be extended based on your own knowledge and experience?
Nope.
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