StanfordxNOTA Book

Learning by StanfordxNOTA Book on Nota Learning Learning in interaction is the learning that happens when you are interacting with a system. Learning in interaction can also be seen as learning how to do something by interacting with the system of whatever it is you want to learn how to do. In InteractionThe novice quartermasters learned to navigate by interacting directly with the navigation system.Goffman, E.When you are interacting with the system of displays, you are learning how to display. Hutchings, E.Mehan, H.DISPLAYS FOR DUMMIES What are Displays? In most societies, we break life down into divisions and hierarchies and then we solemnize junctures in those spatial metaphors through occasions known as CEREMONIES - affirmations of basic social arrangements. Example: christenings, weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations. In these events, we make a fuss over the classifications, relationships, titles, and divisions in society that are ordinarily hidden from view. The centerpiece of these events are often called RITUALS.In these rituals, individuals offer DISPLAYS in order to provide evidence of our alignment in the gathering. Displays are not the same as communication in the traditional sense of the term, but a more tacit declaration of one’s role in a given context.Beyond organized rituals, displays are also used regularly in everyday social interactions. Eight Fundamentals of Common Displays: 8. People, unlike animals, can be quite conscious of their displays and may seek to control, temper, or delay their displays. Example: foreign travelers often restrain their displays until they have observed the local culture. 1. Displays are dialogic by nature. One person’s display often invites a display response in return. Example: A wave in the street. These responses are not always so symmetrical, however, they could in certain social situations be asymmetrical. Example: a military salute => smile.2. Displays tend to take place at the beginning and end of undertakings. Example: Induction ceremonies vs. Commencement.3. Displays can be communicated via style. Example: Dress, hairstyle, handwriting.4. More than one piece of social information can be encoded inside of a single display. Example: the granting of a doctorate is a signal not just of completion of school, but of welcoming one into a larger academic community.5. Displays vary dramatically in terms of formality. Example: a high-five vs. a bow or curtsy.6. Most displays are in fact optional.7. Displays tend to be general and do not provide specific social information. Example: from an outsider’s perspective, one could read from display general feelings of admiration or disgust, but one could not read detailed social or familial hierarchy/relationships like “supervisor” or “father”. Where do Displays come from? Displays are, in many ways, a social contract that we enter into with society to reveal our hidden biological origins. In this sense, Displays are biological in origin, but they are more of a cultural expectation/resource than an inherent necessity of nature. They are most common in expressing gender, hierarchical, and parental relationships, be it through formal (European Court) or informal (General Parenting) means. They are informative shortcuts – instead of having to investigate said origins, we offer up the information in an appropriate forms of social advertisement. A Social Contract? Per Fundamental #6, most displays are very much optional. When one engages in such behavior, he or she is in effect entering into a social agreement to be responded to in kind. Children who act like children by throwing tantrums will in turn be treated like children and receive limited freedom and responsibility. Women who play the demure card will, in return, be coddled and sheltered. Subordinates who acquiesce to their superiors will receive the desired support, but will in turn limit their own accountability in the future. Yes, just as one chooses to enter into such a contract, one can of course back out of such an agreement – but, as Goffman forewarns, one must in turn expect an end to all the niceties and privileges to which he or she has become accustomed. Where does identity end and where do displays begin? Goffman would argue that, in the case of gender displays, there is in fact no such thing as gender identity – merely a schedule for portrayal of gender. There are, of course, biological differences between man and woman, but that beyond organ and function, Goffman believes that our ideas of femininity and masculinity are merely cultural constructs and politically motivated and highly choreographed patterns of social behavior. How do displays translate into the online world? There are many examples of displays in the modern online world. Some are virtual analogs to real world displays, others offer new takes on passive communication. Some work well, others not so well. And, while it would be a stretch to say that capacity for display predicts success in the virtual space, there is a strong correlation between successful communication technologies and such features. Trends to watch for? As we delve deeper into the online space, the success of social applications and products offers interesting insights into the role of display in virtual worlds and online gatherings. First, subtlety doesn’t seem to transfer over very well in the online space – at least at the relatively low resolutions we’re talking about in today’s virtual environments. When controlling your avatar in World of Warcraft, there are no options for raising an eyebrow or rolling your eyes. Instead, you can dance, hug, punch, or spit on someone. It’s easy then to make an argument as to why video conferencing has struggled to-date while Instant Messaging has taken off – with such low video resolution, it’s hard to read our traditional displays, but very easy to see a J plastered on the screen. Second, Swiss-Army knife approaches to social interaction like Second Life don’t seem to work as well as highly-specified environments such as World of Warcraft and Facebook. People seem to feel more comfortable in environments where they clearly understand their purpose in being there. Just like in the physical world, people like to assume roles and responsibilities, which need to be clearly demarcated inside that world through various means of display. Hutchins, E.dfgfhDisplays in World of WarcraftDisplays in Facebook First up, bladesmithing! Another student at UCSD, Navdeep, did an Honors thesis where he studied bladesmiths. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WnPDi5jV1U&feature=related Where's the learning in interaction?Everywhere! As a bonus, there are multiple levels of interaction. Physical Level He has to learn how to learn how to make the metal take the shape he wants by interacting with it. The most stunning part of this is how a bladesmith has to manipulate the internal crystal structure of the blade, which is un-seeable to the smith. But after years of interacting with the blade, learning how to read the sounds of the blade, the color of the metal, what should happen if he hammers when it's at one temperature rather than another, he has learned how to manipulate this internal crystal structure. Environment This activity is also situated in an environment. Through interaction, the bladesmith has learned how to best arrange his environment to facilitate his forging, to the point of doing his forging at night so he can Cultural Finally, to really be accepted as an expert he has to interact with the culture, in this case the American Bladesmith Society. A person isn't considered a bladesmith until they've passed the ABS test. This includes such marvelous tasks as cutting a free hanging rope with one chop of the blade. Physical Part of how the kid is learning to slide properly is by interacting with the physical board. His learning process is an interaction between himself, the board and the pavement. Let's take a look at a similar example: learning to do a coleman slide. Coleman Slide Where's the learning in interaction?This guy is doing interaction on several different levels: physical, with the board and the pavement. BladesmithingEnvironment His environment has been chosen well, he probably learned about what sort of environment would be good by interacting with it earlier, before this specific learning activity. Note that he chose a shallow hill with smooth pavement. His board might even be tuned for sliding. Social A coleman slide is what the community says is a coleman slide. When he posted the video, he was interacting with the community, trying to learn "is this slide that I"m doing really a coleman slide?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c10qFUnsTvwMehan, H.Learning in terms of Models of Representations and the Instructional Construction of IdentitiesConstructing Social Facts: The Politics of RepresentationNon Resident Laborers in the USGuest WorkerWorkerPotential CitizenIllegal AlienUndocumented Workers "Mojados" or WetbacksEach mode of representation defines the person making the representation and constitutes a group of people, and does so in a different way. Institutional Construction of IdentitiesMultiple and Competing Interpretations: How the clarity of social facts are produced from the ambiguity of everyday life. How is done the production of student identities? How does a student become a "special education" or a "regular education" student?People's everyday practices are examined for the way in which they exhibit, indeed, generate, the social structures of the relevant domain. The notion of structures is meant in a sense that are "external to and constraining upon" the inmediate social situation.Student's identity for Learning Disabilities (LD) was related to a bureaucratic process.ClassroomPyschological AssesmentEvaluation by the Eligibility and Placement ComiteeDiscourseTextFurther Reading Mehan, H. (1993). Beneath the skin and between the ears. In S> Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice (pp. 241–269). New York: Cambridge University Press.Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice (pp. 241–269). New York: Cambridge University Press.David Smith, Perry Gilmore, Shelley Goldman and Ray McDermott (1993). Failure's Failure. In Minority Eucation Anthropological Perspectives. Ablex NJ.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LAk6dX7bg(Enable JavaScript in your browser, please.)