DMAC After Dark: Toward a Theory of Distributed Invention

Alexander, Kara Poe; Williams, Danielle M.

doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2015.04.001

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…CTK generation is facilitated by distributed cognitive systems in organizations where group participants overcome their individual incomplete perspectives of work-related tasks and span their knowledge boundaries by pooling together complementary knowledge via joint endeavors (Hutchins, 1995;Alexander and Williams, 2015). High levels of interaction and coordination among individuals exert a critical role during this transcendental process, melting down individual knowledge barriers and paving the way for collective knowing and organizing (Hollan et al, 2000).…”

Section: Sdc Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High levels of interaction and coordination among individuals exert a critical role during this transcendental process, melting down individual knowledge barriers and paving the way for collective knowing and organizing (Hollan et al , 2000). Nuanced individual knowledge sets and cognitive models distributed among members provides the ground for interpreting socially constructed realities and accessing tacit knowledge held by the group, resulting in collective sense-making and creation of new meanings (Alexander and Williams, 2015).…”

Section: Sdc Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collective tacit knowledge generation distributed among members provides the ground for interpreting socially constructed realities and accessing tacit knowledge held by the group, resulting in collective sensemaking and creation of new meanings (Alexander and Williams, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collective tacit knowledge generation through play

Spraggon

Bodolica

2017

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature by examining the generation of collective tacit knowledge (CTK) in organizations through social ludic activities (SLAs) as a specific form of playful micro-practice carried out by employees. Design/methodology/approach This paper builds upon socially distributed cognition (SDC) and transactive memory systems (TMS) to analyze SLAs’ contribution to CTK creation in the workplace. These theories provide conceptual underpinnings for comprehending how workers self-organize shared activities to store, retrieve and use each other’s tacit knowledge within the collective. An example is provided to illustrate SLAs’ manifestation in an agile-based software development firm. Findings SLAs may facilitate collective members’ knowing and learning whereby different solutions are sought and potential tactics to cope with work issues are attuned to changing conditions by the collective members at work. Four moderating factors, namely physical proximity, psychological safety, richness of communication pathways and intensity of interactions, are identified and propositions to conceptualize their role in CTK generation through SLAs are formulated. Practical implications SLA players’ efforts to solve dysfunctionalities at work are not merely prompted by interdependencies among work-related tasks but also driven by high levels of social embeddedness and interaction among employees. Managers should become more supportive of collective playful activities in their organizations by building a propitious corporate climate for the mobilization of CTK in the workplace. Understanding SLAs as a soft group device where CTK resides, transits, is enacted and continuously metamorphosed represents an important complement to hard devices offered by information systems. Originality/value Relying on the notion of SLAs as a means to cope with work concerns, the authors integrate insights from organizational play, knowledge management, SDC and TMS literatures to advance the authors’ understanding of CTK creation through collective playful undertakings at work.

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Section: Sdc Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sdc Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collective tacit knowledge generation through play

Spraggon

Bodolica

2017

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“…In some of these cases, distributed cognition is examined in the service of another topic; in others, it is examined as a crucial component of writing. For example, Alexander and Williams (2015) argue for the benefits of co-composing in physical proximity to other writers, suggesting that this recursive process, which distributes cognition across co-composers, is perhaps more generative than composing individually. Cronin (2004), on the other hand, argues that all academic writing is a distributed cognitive process, as evidenced by the acknowledgments sections of academic articles.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Cognition and Embodiment in Text Planning: A Situated Study of Collaborative Writing in the Workplace

Clayson

2018

Written Communication

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Through a study of collaborative writing at a student advocacy nonprofit, this article explores how writers distribute their text planning across tools, artifacts, and gestures, with a particular focus on how embodied representations of texts are present in text planning. Findings indicate that these and other representations generated by the writers move through a spectrum of durability, from provisional to more persistent representations. The author argues that these findings offer useful insights into the relationships among distributed cognition, materiality, embodiment, and text planning and have implications for practitioners and students of writing. Additionally, the author recommends that scholars further investigate the ways in which embodied representations of texts are generated through lived experiences with the materials of writing.

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“…The communicative practices of people with aphasia underscore how invention is negotiated and distributed across modes and people. Like Alexander and Williams (2015), I define invention as collaborative brainstorming in which “original ideas become mutually appropriated and evolve into something different altogether” (p. 33). Invention is a particularly important communicative practice for this group as we see how ideas do not originate or develop from only one person or one semiotic resource, but are created by negotiating between people and modes.…”

Section: Analyzing Communicative Access In Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating Communicative Access in Practice: A Study of a Memoir Group for People With Aphasia

Miller

2019

Written Communication

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Resulting from stroke or brain injury, aphasia affects individuals' ability to produce and comprehend language, but it also creates profound social changes, limiting individuals' opportunities to communicate or to be seen as capable of communication. To address these challenges, the field of communicative sciences and disorders (CSD) has sought to ensure "communicative access" by reducing barriers to communication. This article, through an analysis of the communicative practices of participants in a memoir group for people with aphasia, develops a nuanced conception of communicative access as a process of negotiation across individuals and modes and not just as a process of reducing barriers. The study shows, specifically, that rather than the mere presence of multiple semiotic resources enabling communicative access, individuals enact access by flexibly shifting between modes to take advantage of various kinds of affordances that best suit their needs. This willingness to use modes in atypical or nonnormative ways importantly challenges the very idea of "normal" communication. The theory of communicative access developed in this article melds (a) a CSD understanding of communication as social and tied inextricably to identity with (b) a disability studies conception of access as an ongoing, negotiated

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DMAC After Dark: Toward a Theory of Distributed Invention

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Collective tacit knowledge generation through play

Collective tacit knowledge generation through play

Distributed Cognition and Embodiment in Text Planning: A Situated Study of Collaborative Writing in the Workplace

Negotiating Communicative Access in Practice: A Study of a Memoir Group for People With Aphasia

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