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Class:COM118 - Interpersonal Communication (RAP/TAP) - Fall 2010/reality
Not everyone agrees completely.... see more comments on Handout #17 here.
That Handout summarized the Freewrites of students' immediate reactions upon being told about this possibility. But when we got around to voting we were pretty solid.
Quotes About Reality
- "Moreover, news is a historic reality. It is a form of culture invented by a particular class at a particular point of histo- ry-in this case by the middle class largely in the eighteenth century. Like any invented cultural form, news both forms and reflects a particular "hunger for experience," a desire to do away with the epic, heroic, and traditional in favor of the unique, original, novel, new-news," (Carey, Communication as Culture, 21).--Kkoswick 16:30, 7 December 2010 (EST)
- "Reality is not given, not humanly exist- ent, independent of language and toward which language stands as a pale refraction. Rather, reality is brought into existence, is produced, by communication-by, in short, the construction, apprehension, and utilization of symbolic forms.5 Reality, while not a mere function of symbolic forms, is produced by terministic systems-or by humans who produce such systems that focus its existence in specific terms," (Carey, Communication as Culture, 24).--Kkoswick 16:40, 7 December 2010 (EST)
- "If one tries to examine society as a form of communication, one sees it as a process whereby reality is created, shared, modified, and preserved. When this process becomes opaque, when we lack models of and for reality that make the world apprehensible, when we are unable to describe and share it; when because of a failure in our models of communication we are unable to connect with others, we encounter problems of communication in their most potent form." (Carey, Communication as Culture, 34) Dfoley 16:48, 7 December 2010 (EST)
- "Our attempts to construct, maintain, repair, and transform reality are publicly observable activities that occur in historical time. We create, express, and convey our knowledge of and attitudes toward reality through the construction of a variety of symbol systems: art, science, journalism, religion, common sense, mythology." (Carey, Communication as Culture, 30) Dfoley 17:02, 7 December 2010 (EST)
- "This particular miracle we perform daily and hourly-the miracle of producing reality and then living within and under the fact of our own productions-rests upon a particular quality of symbols: their ability to be both representations "of" and "for" reality. A blueprint of a house in one mode is a representation "for" reality: under its guidance and control a reality, a house, is produced that expresses the relations contained in reduced and simplified form in the blueprint. There is a second use of a blueprint, however. If someone asks for a description of a particular house, one can simply point to a blueprint and say, "That's the house." Here the blueprint stands as a representation or symbol of reality: it expresses or represents in an alternative medium a synoptic formulation of the nature of a particular reality. While these are merely two sides of the same coin, they point to the dual capacity of symbolic forms: as "symbols of" they present reality; as "symbols for" they create the very reality they present," (Carey, Communication as Culture, 28) --Kkoswick 17:32, 7 December 2010 (EST)
- "Initial attraction in most relationships is based on physical characteristics (Duck, 1988). In an integrated society, opportunities for people of all races to observe images of beauty in all racial groups are abundant. Openly expressing attraction to the images of beauty in another group is a logical extension of exposure but may be socially more risky." (Foeman/Nance P.3) --Mjezard 21:53, 9 December 2010 (EST)
- "Much of this discomfort is explained in the fact that interracial attraction brings to the forefront two issues of great ambivalence for Americans: sex and race. The possibility that sexual attraction may be linked to a complex racial past can generate very uncomfor- table feelings for many people." (Foeman/Nance P. 3)--Mjezard 22:12, 9 December 2010 (EST)
- "Being White carries with it a certain set of majority assumptions, pressures, and rights." (Foeman/Nance P. 5) --Mjezard 00:41, 17 December 2010 (EST)
- "Probably because it is the African American who has already experienced the most racism in the broader society, our research and others’ supports that, at least initially, the African American partner is more likely to be sensitive to the role of race for the interra- cial couple and may approach the relationship with more reticence " (Foeman/Nance P. 5) --Mjezard 00:51, 17 December 2010 (EST)
Final Team Presentations
Co-Constructing Consciousness through Teamwork
Potentials of UMassWiki
The original list was generated on the third day of class.
By the eighth day of class, here is what survived:
Day 3 Pop Quiz results :-(
- average = 3.35
- mode = 2 and 3.5 (out of six possible points)
- distribution (# of students with ___ score)
- 8 students earned 2 points
- 5 students earned 2.5 points
- 1 student earned 3 points
- 8 students earned 3.5 points
- 1 student earned 4.5 points
- 5 students earned 6 points
The answers should have been easy! I was very sad.
Day 19 Pop Quiz 7 Results
Excerpts from Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (mainly about information theory (pgs 178-179, 139-141, c1999) and Group Processes: An Introduction to Group Dynamics, 3rd Ed, by Joseph Luft c 1984 [see brief and excellent review (pgs 28-29): on "Tension, Motivation, and Learning" (the bits on Self-Regard and Group Evaluation and Listening are also of interest!)
The Photographic Record
Day 1: Real talk is non-linear
In addition to an overview of course content (see Real Talk is Non-Linear), we also discussed grading and the point system on the first day of class. 
The discussion included a review of the No Late Work policy and how to keep the Course Notebook.
Directions were given on how to Find That Wiki!
Day 2: Find that Wiki!
We talked about the group dynamic that occurred near the end of the class on Day 1:
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
SPEAKING Model by Dell Hymes
References to the assigned opening video and selective attention videos are included.
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Communication Does Pizza!
Wiki Training
Day 7
This is the day Recon Teams met the Gorilla.
Day 8
SPEAKING applied to The Buzz Buzz Boom, by Seth Gore
Setting & Scene, Participants, Ends, Act Sequence
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To Hear or Not To Hear: Still a Dimension of Sensory Perception!
Artful Interlude
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Key & Instrument
Day 9
No photos?
Day 10
Feels like some weird time warp. Maybe I've miscounted/misaligned the days/dates and photo record. Steph(talk) 19:13, 25 October 2010 (EDT) Is it possible all those photos in Day 8 span Days 9 & 10? (I downloaded them all at the same time, which apparently meant losing their distinctive dates.)
Day 11
more on Instrument, Norms & Genre
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New Team Essay #2 and Important Stuff
Day 12
confidentiality & privacy (reprise)
that grading thing
Day 13
Differences, Decision Making
Note: These photos need more cropping. The question for the Freewrite/Pop Quiz (above) should be followed by the spelling question (below). And then the notes per fishbowl conversation.....
Day 14
SPEAKING of our class
ICT review
Day 15
lingering tasks & upcoming assignments
Academic Angles on Interpersonal Communication
transitioning old to new teamworks
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Norming: Teamwork at the Group Level
homework: project
Brilliant student question
Logistics (that grading thing)
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Day 16
Summarizing Tweeted project ideas
Foundation:
and create something others can learn from...
We could try to demonstrate the SPEAKING model
Maybe we could do an experiment...
...especially something related to language...
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Or figure out
An important choice is whether we invent something or work with what is already happening.
The idea of a video came up frequently.
An Encounter Film?
Steph proposed taping a meeting with Seth Gore. Students wrote their reactions in a Freewrite before we proceeded to discussion.
Somone had to ask!
Most reactions were positive:
And the questions were all on target:
Some students expressed doubt
But most agreed the opportunity is unprecedented, to get to interact across language difference with People of the Eye:
Day 17
Ktrychon took photos of the Board this day.... they are posted.... as Day 15 (?) on her "Answer Page."
The Homework was listed on the other board (lower lefthand corner) first, then
Steph moved back to this board to add the "choice" diagram.
The students' message:
Day 18
prior to voting on the proposed class project
after the 28:1 vote
the 'stuff' we're engaging now & Moving On
first Editorial & Development (E&D) Team meeting
Day 19
Summary of the 1st E&D Team Meeting (class project)
The first pile of data (collated from the handout on planning the vision manifesto, notebook #17) was parsed by seven students and Steph on Monday evening (18 Oct).
Continuing our tradition of Pop Quizzes
Tangent (because it wouldn't be "us" otherwise)
Did you say, "pedagogy"?!
residue...
The vote for this class project was 28:1. We are working simultaneously on refining the Vision Manifesto (to guide taping), logistics, and fundraising.
We are requesting the Department support us by extending the use of bookkeeping and facilitating an alliance with MEF or our own studio in order to arrange for the use of four HD digital camcorders for the three planned fishbowls as well as some follow-up editing support (space, software, etc).
Any additional support from the Department will be greatly appreciated!
Day 20
Returning, Repeating
Day 21
In 50 minutes today, we covered:
Details regarding the Midterm
Disclaimer: cutesy heartsy added post-facto by an anonymous student.
A lively trade in Midterm Questions ensued!
Ongoing Projects
More wiki training (last one, finally? I hope so!)
Proposed a secret, student-led/organized project...
Compiling Quotations
FYI: A signature was added beneath this quote but - in the interests of demonstrating good sense - I have not posted it!
Lightbulbs on Speech Act Theory
quality of comprehension
Students noticed features in the writing, and were reminded by other students of relevant Midterm Questions.
Aside: They seem to like me:
Students readily identified the essential matter at the heart of Language and Social Interaction:
Active Learning
Listening to four students recount their experience of taking turns reading sections of the assigned text out loud to each other, another student commented:
This Class is in Motion!
Midterm: Communication Theory
Yep. You might want to skim through the photographic record above to refresh your memory - every question requires including an example from class.
A few examples from which you may extrapolate include the Home Page created by a 300-level Group Dynamics course and this individual tour through a semester with the wiki. These two samples hint toward where we're going....
You will post your answer in the designated location on the Answer Page, sign with your wiki-signature, and also provide a specific link to it from your User Page.
On your User Page, create a new subsection under "Communication Theories" - call the new sub-section "Speech Act Theory." Paste in your assigned question (with number) and your answer. It is up to you whether to include your whole answer or just part of it with a link to the whole answer on the Midterm Answer Page. What would be a good single sentence to use as the 'hook' to inspire someone to want to go and read the whole answer?! Make that the link!
Resuming the Photographic Record
Day 22, October 27
spelling matters
...as seen on Twitter, another way to spell "consciousness": 
and how to tank a great proposal (thankfully, the correction occurred in time) 
Who's Responsible Around Here?
(Subheading taken from the title of one of the course readings) ... how will we work together on the overall wiki design, especially its particular pages, rhetorics, and representations?
Everything begins with noticing
The fact is there are
zeroing in on DISCIPLINE
...a mélange of fields and subfields...
cut through with intrapersonal identifications
impeded by subgroup splitting
Every act of communication is a choice of focus.
Every act of focus (or selective attention) has consequences. Some are desirable, some are not.
Of course there are always reasons!
Usually premised upon some underlying forms of identification...
confusion
Is it the members of the Non-Verbal Communication/Library Reconnaissance Team that keep saying ASL is a form of non-verbal communication? There are different ways to talk!
The fact is American Sign Language is a language. Like all languages, it includes elements that supplement the primary symbolic code.
Non-manual markers have grammatical functions in ASL, and can also contribute in similar ways as non-verbal cues function in speech.
the question of something being marked is bigger than the example
This is a complicated concept, drawn originally from linguistics, but applied in a range of contemporary ways as indicative of various biases in discourse and social interaction.
Day 23, October 29
Speech Act Theory
We completed half of a round-robin, with students summarizing what they learned from answering their midterm question. A volunteer started us off just right:
Not only does the model depend on the act, the act is never alone: it depends on co-construction which another student antsy to contribute identifies as
, while also naming the significance of the "thunderstorm" dynamic from the very first day.
The difference between "anticipated" and "actual" responses was described in terms of
as when students ask the teacher a question and receive an unexpected response: "We look at her," she said, "as if...
"
So Much Learning - and continuing dynamics! :-o
Making the teacher's heart leap for joy, the next student's comment reflects upon "the lifelike pedagogy" guiding course curriculum:
(Because who wants the teacher to get bored with managing the classroom communication process, eh? (Sigh.)
If acts invoke the model, and the model contextualizes acts, then these language-based social interactions generate the communicative field of a common code 
wherein we play 
, discovering that 
, while keeping in mind that persons who conceive of language & meaning from a "building blocks" approach may not grasp the code or all the layers of conversational implicature within it. 
defining important terminology
Conversational implicature is already introduced in the photo record above, but it is worth noting that one of the main features of our common code is 
.
We also discussed the conversational triplet:
and the way in which the selection of the 'first' participant in turntaking - "me" or "you" - depends on choosing when & where (even why) to start the sequence. 
The interpersonal communication characteristic of presentness also received special note, 
, being linked directly with active listening, and from that to the phenomenon of becoming educable (!). Time (one can't turn back the pages of an unfolding conversation) and selective attention also figured in this Midterm debriefing.
logics of message design
The assigned question about the three 
was applied to our use of Twitter as a supplement to classroom instruction. Online IPC is defined as "real" because it occurs in real-time, 
and has the benefit of making turn-taking (such as for the purposes of demarcating a conversational triplet) readily apparent: 
.
Plenty of creativity has been on display, but the truth is this teacher is not satisfied yet!
discipline and creativity
Subgroup-level distractions unfortunately continued to interfere with overall classroom dynamics. Given the resources available to the role of teaching, and in reluctant anticipation of continued disruption, a pop quiz had been prepared on two topics lost to a significant proportion of students during the previous class session. Several warnings (at least three?) failed to inspire focus.
Several students were able to complete the quiz satisfactorily (while others proceeded along the lines of WAGs), including this insightful linkage of knowledge with respect: 
planning...
Day 24: A grade storm
Class dynamics were foreshadowed by an immense surge in Tweets.
Effort and Competence (backdrop: grade inflation and the virtues of "working hard")
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Applying logic(s) and reasoning
Prefiguring the Grading Team Meeting
Mhatz24 posted a Carey quote about space and time which gets close to the theoretical heart of the symbolic uses of language being exposed and contested in this (blasted!) negotiation concerning learning, grades, and grading. In tangible and non-material ways, "we" (roughly the class/students and the teacher) are fighting over control of the future. Which speech acts - what logics - will we repeat (ritualize) and will these conform to convention or invoke additional creativity? To what extent can we accomplish both? What meanings and meaningfulness do we "transmit" to each other, here and now, and which meanings and meaningfulness do we seek to send forward to draw us into desirable futures (the "then and there" - a phrase also description of/for the past)?
Through these, our social interactions, we are essentially speaking the world into being. Mcliu posted a Carey quote regarding Carey's theoretical connection with Kenneth Burke. "Reality," as understood by a wide variety of philosophers and cultural critics, including Burke and Carey, "is brought into existence, is produced, by communications" (need a page #, please!). Carey continues, "Reality, while not a mere function of symbolic forms, is produced by terministic systems..." (and here too!). The idea of a terministic screen is Burke's: it has tremendous relevance for interpersonal communication.
Day 24: The Grading Team Meeting
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