One task that I perform regularly in a group that functions particularly well is my sorority weekly chapter meeting. According to Hutchins, a cognitive system occurs when “systems coordinate transformations on representations in a goal-seeking behavior.” A cognitive system occurs every Sunday night at 5 in the basement of my sorority house at our weekly chapter meetings.
The goal of the meetings is to discuss upcoming or current events in the sorority and share thoughts. Being in a sorority at Cornell is not just being part of an organization; it is a way of life that consumes you. The priorities of the sorority, such as social and philanthropy events, are big priorities of mine. So the purpose of the meeting is to update every member on important events by way of announcements from the officers.
The representations used in carrying out the task are both internal and external. Internal representations are information about events encoded in the memories of the officers. For example if the vice president of member education needs to make a spoken announcement about assigning little sisters, she will remember the announcement in her head. An example of an external representation is a flyer or form listing important deadlines, which is handed out during chapter.
The representations are transformed through announcements, emails, other communication in chapter. All delta gamma representations have a shared meaning. For example, all members know that anchor splash is our biggest annual charity event. The details about the representation anchor splash can be transformed by announcements in chapter or through wiggio emails. The wiggio program emails all members at once, and takes a big load off individuals. Another way representations are transformed in chapter is by a show of hands; this allows us to visually see what members believe.
The coordination of weekly chapter meetings tends to happen in phases. At first emails from wiggio and word of mouth about chapter are loosely coupled. Individuals work independently and technologies, such as emails, help with coordination. Chapter itself is tightly coupled; all members are working face-to-face and all work is dependent on that of other members. For example, if an officer asks for a show of hands in her announcement, her results are directly dependent on other members’ responses.
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I find it very interesting that you use Wiggio for coordinating communication within your sorority. What functionality do you use it for other than to send out mass emails? Most of the organized communication within our fraternity is through email lists and Ftf during chapter meetings. We have tried using an online message board with a calendar and polling system but it turns out that brothers don't like to adopt a new technology that they will have limited exposure to. We are currently testing out a shared Google Calendar as another form of an external representation.
ReplyDeleteThe way Greek members of the Cornell community arrange their many responsibilities and commitments constantly amazes me. With everyone being so busy, it seems to be a miracle that meetings can even be scheduled at mutually convenient times!
ReplyDeleteThat said, internet-based collaborative tools are probably one of the most effective tools that could be used. Everyone's constantly checking their emails and their facebooks anyway! I'm intrigued that you have used Wiggio to such success; I've seen the chalkings all over campus & never really payed attention to them -- you've convinced me to give them a try!