Distributed Cognition for Dummies
In Dean’s slideshow for Module II, he mentions that distributed cognition is one of the skills necessary for participation on the media landscape (at 12:28 in the slideshow). This wasn’t a term I was familiar with, so I did a bit more research. My knowledge of cognitive science is limited (i.e. non-existent), but after reading a little bit more about distributed cognition, I had a tiny “aha!” moment. The academic articles can be hard to slog through, so I hope to spare you some pain with my version of Distributed Cognition for Dummies.
Edwin Hutchins developed the notion that “knowledge lies not only within the individual but in the individual’s social and physical environment” (EduTech Wiki). Knowledge is distributed across individuals, tools, objects, and time; hence, the term “distributed cognition” or DCog. Cognitive resources are compiled and shared among group members (and their tools), and the group can use these resources to achieve something that none of the individuals could alone. The theory is particularly useful in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and in education.
Distributed Cognition diagram (found at http://cmap.ihmc.us/)
Hutchins uses the cockpit of an airplane as an example (Mansour 247). The cockpit as a whole is a cognitive system: the interactions between crew members, between crew members and their tools, and the coordination of the tools all work together to transform information over the course of the flight. The cockpit (i.e. the system) has collaborative knowledge that is much greater than the knowledge of each individual.
The parallels between distributed cognition and social media are clear. When using social media, individuals contribute original content; they interact with one another, and with the social media tools available to them. The collaborative knowledge is transformed by these interactions: “The resulted collaborative knowledge is rich of multiple ideas, meanings, and interpretations of everyone within the group, which helps to enhance the ability of making decisions and solve problems and is not reducible to any of the members of the group,” (Mansour 250). Wikipedia is the quintessential example of this; Mansour discusses it at length.
Sources:
- “Distributed Cognition.” EduTech Wiki. Web. 21 July 2011. http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Distributed_cognition
- “Distributed Cognition (DCog).” Learning Theories Knowledgebase July 2011. Web. 21 July 2011. http://www.learning-theories.com/distributed-cognition-dcog.html
- Mansour, Osama. “Group Intelligence: A Distributed Cognition Perspective.” 2009 International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems. Barcelona, 2009. 247-250. Web. 20 July 2011. Available at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5368839&tag=1 (UBC Library access required).
Well done. This is the type of entry that works well for the glossary, Jessica.
Dean
21 Jul 11 at 17:39
Thanks, that helps!
Hutchin’s definition is broad enough that it seems to me that it could apply to almost any shared group activity (hunting, bronze age priests doing a temple inventory with clay tablets); maybe the concept becomes more significant for activities when there is a high level of abstract information processing and the components in the non-human environment are themselves interactive (computers, smart phones, network appliances).
Chris Blanton
21 Jul 11 at 17:50
Very succinct and informative. A great example to try to emulate. I’m definitely going to have to drop “DCog” into a conversation!
Greg Ferguson
23 Jul 11 at 04:49