[Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
Lplarry
lpscholar2@gmail.com
Tue Apr 19 12:05:40 PDT 2016
Alfredo,
Your exploration of what the meaning of *intersubjective means* is going to the heart of the matter. In one meaning our subjectivity is primordial and each of us brings our subjectivity into a shared place of mutuality and in this process an inter/subjective reality or realization or manifestation *arises* and is given *form* (meaning). I will call this meaning of intersubjectivity *individual* intersubjectivity.
However, as you articulate there is another possible meaning of *intersubjectivity* that focuses originally on the *place* or *space* or *site* in which persons inter/act and it is the quality or characteristic of this place that generates *meaning* including the meaning of subjectivity *arising* within this particular situation.
This second meaning of intersubjectivity I will call *place intersubjectivity* to indicate that subjectivity is a *manifestation* of intersubjectivity.
In other words the 2nd person mutual joint attention within places is primordial.
These two differing notions of what *intersubjectivity is* enact differing notions of what we mean by dwelling in the world.
I read joint attention as exploring these contrasting notions of the relation of subjectivity and intersubjevtivity.
Larry
Sent from my Windows 10 phone
From: Alfredo Jornet Gil
Sent: April 19, 2016 11:18 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity; ablunden@mira.net
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
I just read a PISA related document that I found online on collaboration ( here<http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/Draft%20PISA%202015%20Collaborative%20Problem%20Solving%20Framework%20.pdf> ), and it seems to me that PISA's starting point is the idea that collaboration is the result of putting (adding) individuals, that is, that collaboration works by the principle of addition. From this view, it seems that each individual comes into group tasks with her own subjectivity, and then, in and through the fact of working together with others towards a shared goal, there emerges something intersubjective and which leads to learning.
Because PISA's motive is to *measure*, and most specifically to measure individuals, the index for measuring collaboration is established as the set of variables that they call "Collaboration Skills". These, I assume, are thought just as we tend to think of subjectivity: something we carry along and which we can put to play when we do things with others so that something different and bigger emerges from which we all will learn. This is a view that takes the individual as the primary phenomenon, and collaboration as a something that results from the putting of individuals to work together.
But if we think of collaboration as the PRIMARY phenomenon, as I believe an approach a là Vygotsky would have it, then intersubjectivity (and not subjectivity) is primary. The generativeness of collaboration does not stem from an additive principle, but has a dynamic of its own. Here, any single subjectivity is a manifestation or refraction of that intersubjective phenomenon that we call collaboration. If collaboration skills exist only (emerge and are put to work only) in collaboration, are they features of the individual that can be measured? Or are not they features of the collaborative settings?
Is not a parent's carrying of a baby in her arms a collaborative achievement? Obviously, there need to be two different individuals in the first place, but for there to be the two individuals, mother/father and baby there needs to be something larger that is parenting, and which indeed allows (and accounts) for the very existence of parents and children in the first place. Obviously too, for there to be a possibility for the collaborative achievement of {carrying | being carried} the baby and the mum need to have certain biological features and predispositions, such as priming towards grabbing and holding. But the coordination requires of joint work by the two and so there is a change that is not biological only but also and at the same time cultural. And so, assuming that all biological premises are on place, could we have anticipated or said anything about their collaborative achievement, of the type of mum-baby relation that was going to emerge? We know there are different practices of carrying babies that lead to different personalities, as works such as those by Mead and Bateson in the Balinese suggest.
So, there are a number of problems in the idea of measuring collaborative skills as indexes for successful collaboration in education. First, if we agree that collaboration itself is a practice, and as such, may take many different forms and lead to very different characters/personalities, then for us to be able to agree on a set of collaborative skills we need to have first settled upon a given type of collaboration. Yet, in the literature this tends to be seen against the other measuring outcome: "learning outcomes"; in the document I've been looking at this was "collaborative problem solving". A discussion on WHAT kind of society (which is the same as to ask what kind of collaborations) we want to make possible through education, seems to be quite absent. The second and related problem concerns whether it makes sense at all to try to measure collaboration by means of individual outcomes, rather than in terms of collaborative settings themselves. But this is of course a requirement and result of the motive of measurement itself, specially when what needs to be reported back is that each individual performs adequately.
Alfredo
________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>
Sent: 19 April 2016 16:46
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
I probably count as a "difficult person", Greg, but through
my life, with a number of de facto relationships with women,
I can't remember one that was disinclined to engage in
conflict. One only has to watch any sit. com. on TV to see
that it is an established fact of modern capitalist society
that men cannot handle verbal conflict. As to physical
conflict, that is sadly an altogether other matter. :)
Andy
(Enjoy that bit of conflict?)
------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
On 20/04/2016 12:35 AM, Greg Mcverry wrote:
> I like the connotative switch. Your version is way more
> inclusive mf multiple perspectives.
>
> Overall this has been a wonderful thread.
>
> On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 7:57 PM Andy Blunden
> <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>
> Greg, what about instead of "conflict ... Seems rooted
> in a
> male dominant discourse or view on the world"
> something like
> "the male dominant discourse or view on conflict" is
> destructive of collaboration.
> Andy
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> On 19/04/2016 9:32 AM, Greg Mcverry wrote:
> >
> > I can find few to no instances where work and
> activity are
> > not done collaboratively, in terms of work with others.
> >
> > It seems much of this discussion centers around work we
> > choose to do, work we have to do, and choosing to do
> this
> > work while playing well with others.
> >
> > So if conflict is central to collaboration it would
> > therefore have to be central to work.
> >
> > Centering success and change as the result of
> conflict has
> > never sat well with me. Seems rooted in a male dominant
> > discourse or view on the world.
> >
> > Maybe its cooperation before conflict. Could those
> be the
> > poles of collaboration?
> >
> > I am not a fan of measuring collaboration (even
> though my
> > first real publication was on the development of these
> > instruments). Especially as Lemke et al shared the
> recent
> > assessment piece. Collaboration and the rest of the so
> > called 21st century skills are better measured and
> > developed in the spaces of learning rather than the
> learner.
> >
> > And these spaces must include the digital. I agree that
> > there are resources wasted on edtech under the banner of
> > collaboration.
> >
> > Yet I have seen and am a member of many open educational
> > communities who harness a collective knowledge base that
> > was never before possible due to limits of time and
> > distance...including this listserv.
> >
> > So collaboration... I like that, but testing
> > collaboration. No, that sounds stupid.
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 18, 2016, 6:31 PM mike cole
> <mcole@ucsd.edu <mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu <mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu>>> wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps the work of mike tomasello is relevant
> to this
> > discussion. I attach
> > one article. Interesting title, too.
> > mike
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 8:32 AM, Andy Blunden
> > <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Collaboration has a whole spectrum in many
> different
> > directions. But I
> > > think the conflict is an essential part of
> > collaboration. Collaboration is
> > > unity and difference. Both are required or
> there is
> > no collaboration. The
> > > "conflict" may be trivial, but then the moment of
> > collaboration is trivial
> > > as well. And the learning is trivial.
> > >
> > > I take collaboration as essentially between
> > distinct, i,e, mutually
> > > independent subjects. If two people who are clones
> > of each other work
> > > together on the same task, since their every
> thought
> > is identical there is
> > > no conflict. Equally two employees, for example,
> > carrying out orders from
> > > the same boss, work together, I don't see this as
> > collaboration. But these
> > > are trivial limiting cases. All collaborators have
> > differences relevant to
> > > the task at hand, and unless it is just a routine
> > division of labour (which
> > > I call cooperation), or conflict is forbidden or
> > suppressed, there has to
> > > be some conflict, some ripple on the waters.
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > *Andy Blunden*
> > > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > > On 19/04/2016 1:01 AM, Glassman, Michael wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi Larry and Andy,
> > >>
> > >> This issue of commitment is a difficult one.
> If I
> > might bring in a
> > >> little bit of Mark Granovetter and Everett
> Rogers,
> > marriage is a strong tie
> > >> relationships. Individuals make a commitment to
> > it, as Larry says, so that
> > >> the relationship is sustainable through even
> > adversarial conflict, or does
> > >> not collapse at the first sign of conflict. But
> > most collaborations,
> > >> especially those that lead to problem
> solving, are
> > based in weak tie
> > >> networks. Do we want to say that weak ties
> > networks can only lead to
> > >> cooperation. Isn't there something to
> > collaboration that allows
> > >> individuals without a prior or even sustainable
> > relationship to come
> > >> together to create change through evolutionary
> > disagreement that does not
> > >> engender conflict? Is that collaboration or
> is it
> > something else.
> > >>
> > >> Michael
> > >>
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>> [mailto:
> > >> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>>] On Behalf Of
> > Lplarry
> > >> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 10:25 AM
> > >> To: Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net
> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
> > <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>>; eXtended Mind, Culture,
> > Activity <
> > >> xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>>
> > >> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
> > >>
> > >> Andy,
> > >> This introduction of the image of marriage as the
> > archetype of
> > >> collaboration certainly opens the concept of
> > collaboration to multiple
> > >> aspects of *engaging conflict* or *managing
> conflict*.
> > >> To say collaboration is (like) marriage
> carries us
> > into a vast field of
> > >> shared (and conflictual) meanings.
> > >> Interesting how this image opens towards the
> > imaginal and then travels to
> > >> distinguishing ZPD from scaffolding.
> > >>
> > >> To move from co-operation towards
> collaboration (as
> > marriage) is moving
> > >> towards notions of *commitment* and *determinate
> > relations* that remain
> > >> always *open to change* but within a continuing
> > commitment/collaboration.
> > >>
> > >> Marriage is a pregnant gestating image for
> engaging
> > the concept of
> > >> collaboration. Marriage as socio-historically
> > meaningful.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Sent from my Windows 10 phone
> > >>
> > >> From: Andy Blunden
> > >> Sent: April 18, 2016 5:58 AM
> > >> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > >> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
> > >>
> > >> The field is rife with different definitions; I
> > choose the set of
> > >> definitions which suit the overall concept I am
> > developing. Can't do
> > >> anything about that! But the issue of
> > >> *conflict* is absolutely essential. Any co-called
> > collaboration in which
> > >> conflict is either suppressed or organised
> away is
> > certainly not worthy of
> > >> the name.
> > >>
> > >> That said, conflict has the potential always to
> > destroy a collaboration,
> > >> and at the same time can be moderated so
> > successfully that it is positively
> > >> enjoyable. The archetype of collaboration is
> > marriage, so we all know what
> > >> this is about. Managing conflict is the most
> > essential element of
> > >> collaboration, but that includes encouraging
> it as
> > well as moderating it.
> > >>
> > >> This issue has echoes of the ZPD vs "scaffolding"
> > question.
> > >>
> > >> Andy
> > >>
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> *Andy Blunden*
> > >> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > >> On 18/04/2016 10:33 PM, Glassman, Michael wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Hi Andy,
> > >>>
> > >>> Thanks for your response. I would like to put
> > aside the issue of
> > >>> computers which I think is extraordinarily
> complex
> > (are we talking about
> > >>> the Internet, or the Ethernet, or the Web, or
> > Artificial Intelligence or
> > >>> Augmentation? More and more I am feeling these
> > distinctions are critical).
> > >>>
> > >>> But your post does refer to issues I am
> struggling
> > with. There has been
> > >>> a lot of talk of the difference between
> > cooperation and collaboration at a
> > >>> number of levels. Right now I think I like
> > Stephen Downes' distinction
> > >>> which is cooperation is engaging in
> community work
> > for your own needs - so
> > >>> you never really give yourself up to the
> learning
> > community, while
> > >>> collaboration involves actually creating a
> > community. Others I think see
> > >>> collaboration as the development of shared
> meaning
> > while cooperation is
> > >>> simply (shared isn't the right word, right?)
> > action towards a goal. I
> > >>> think both to a certain degree reflect your
> thinking.
> > >>>
> > >>> I am interested in the idea of conflict, which I
> > think would be
> > >>> antithetical to PISA's conception of
> > collaboration, they seem to be looking
> > >>> to cut down on conflict as much as possible. It
> > also seems to work against
> > >>> a number of uses of collaboration in the
> field of
> > education. Does Alfie
> > >>> Kohn talk about collaboration - what would
> he say
> > about conflict.
> > >>>
> > >>> So I'm thinking though these just working
> together
> > visions of
> > >>> collaboration are missing that "something" and
> > conflict, as
> > >>> counter-intuitive as it is to models of
> > collaboration might make sense.
> > >>> But what do we mean by conflict.
> > >>>
> > >>> Is it conflict between members of the
> > collaborative group or is it the
> > >>> abilities of the collaborative group to see
> > conflict between their
> > >>> solutions and the realities of the world around
> > them (I know, another
> > >>> loaded phrase).
> > >>>
> > >>> We also have a tendency to see conflict of
> > adversarial. If there is one
> > >>> thing I think collaboration is, it is
> > non-adversarial in nature. So can
> > >>> ideas be in conflict without individuals raising
> > those being adversarial
> > >>> with each other. What if people are adversarial
> > to each other and yet
> > >>> still work together to accomplish important
> > things, or is this
> > >>> cooperation? Or is these another concept that
> > hasn't been defined, or
> > >>> perhaps I am not grasping?
> > >>>
> > >>> The danger with PISA's definition is there is
> > really no mechanism for
> > >>> change. Should collaboration have a
> mechanism for
> > change or innovation?
> > >>>
> > >>> Thoughts running around my head.
> > >>>
> > >>> MIchael
> > >>>
> > >>> -----Original Message-----
> > >>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
> > >>> [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>>] On Behalf Of
> > Andy Blunden
> > >>> Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2016 9:10 PM
> > >>> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> > <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> <mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
> > >>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Collaboration
> > >>>
> > >>> "Collaboration" is a big word in my universe,
> > Michael, so I'll offer
> > >>> some observations.
> > >>>
> > >>> Collaboration as "together working" means
> > specifically working together
> > >>> to a common object (aim). That generally entails
> > working together to change
> > >>> an object-of-labour (/Arbeitsgegenstand/).
> > >>>
> > >>> There is a lot of discussion about the
> difference
> > between Collaboration
> > >>> and the etymologically identical
> Cooperation, much
> > of this is in the
> > >>> "educational debate." As I see it, Collaboration
> > essentially involves both
> > >>> cooperation and conflict. Conflict is also one
> > form or aspect of
> > >>> collaboration, because the parties are working
> > towards two opposite
> > >>> concepts of the same object. "Object" here
> > therefore has a slippery
> > >>> meaning. It can mean the
> /Arbeitsgegenstand/, the
> > object worked upon, or
> > >>> the Gegenstand, the object aimed for. Both ideas
> > incorporate the
> > >>> possibility of difference.
> > >>>
> > >>> Collaboration essentially involves the coming
> > together of distinct
> > >>> parties (or subjects). True Collaboration
> involves
> > a merging of the
> > >>> subjectivities for the course of a single
> project,
> > but there are "limiting
> > >>> cases" of non-collaborative collaboration. These
> > include an exchange of
> > >>> labour governed by a negotiation of a contract
> > (such as customer-service
> > >>> provider in which the subjects retain their
> mutual
> > independence throughout)
> > >>> and command-and-obey (in which one subject is
> > subordinated to another).
> > >>>
> > >>> Cooperation does not imply conflict within the
> > working relationship
> > >>> usually because there is a division of labour;
> > Collaboration on the other
> > >>> hand involves each party taking a critical
> > attitude towards the
> > >>> contribution of the other party. o conflict
> is an
> > essential ingredient to
> > >>> Collaboration.
> > >>>
> > >>> Collaboration is a learning process, to the
> extent
> > that one could argue
> > >>> that learning can *only* be a Collaborative
> > process. So Collaboration means
> > >>> that the object (aim) of the labour changes,
> > because the /concept /of the
> > >>> object changes.
> > >>> Collaborators learn about the object (worked
> upon)
> > in the process of
> > >>> working on it, and the object (aim) by
> realising it.
> > >>>
> > >>> In education there has been an unfortunate
> > development in which (1)
> > >>> students work independently because they are
> > physically or organisationally
> > >>> distant, (2) Collaboration between the
> students is
> > then facilitated by the
> > >>> use of computer and communication equipment, (3)
> > Students who are already
> > >>> face-to-face are obliged to introduce a computer
> > between them so that their
> > >>> collaboration, instead of being face-to-face,
> > mediated only by the
> > >>> /Arbeitsgegenstand/, they now find their
> > Collaboration mediated by a
> > >>> computer. That is, "Collaboration" has come to
> > mean the undermining of
> > >>> Collaboration by the use of Collaborative
> tools to
> > avoid closer
> > >>> collaboration.
> > >>>
> > >>> And this is the danger. The education
> bureaucracy
> > has heard a bit about
> > >>> the benefits of Collaboration as a learning
> > process, and that Collaboration
> > >>> requires equipment. So they get the idea
> that they
> > have to separate
> > >>> students or researchers from one another so that
> > they can collaborate.
> > >>> Once separated the bureaucacy can provide
> > equipment to allow students
> > >>> to Collaborate notwithstanding their having been
> > separated from one
> > >>> another. And the same goes for
> > >>> students+teachers, research+industry,
> > management+workers, etc.
> > >>>
> > >>> Does that help, Michael?
> > >>> Andy
> > >>>
> > >>>
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>> *Andy Blunden*
> > >>> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>;
> > >>> On 18/04/2016 6:38 AM, Glassman, Michael wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>> Hello all,
> > >>>>
> > >>>> I have a question for anybody who might be
> > willing to respond. How do
> > >>>> you define collaboration? What spurs this
> > question is that PISA is
> > >>>> developing a framework for testing
> collaboration
> > internationally. At first
> > >>>> I thought I was getting punked, but it
> really is
> > happening, the framework
> > >>>> is at the link below. The idea of
> collaboration
> > is being used more and
> > >>>> more - especially in contexts that involve
> > computer/web based research, but
> > >>>> it often times seems to be a placeholder. The
> > word only came into vogue
> > >>>> late nineteenth century I think - col meaning
> > together and labore meaning
> > >>>> to labor. A lot of people who discuss
> > collaboration invoke Vygotsky (e.g.
> > >>>> the PISA framework) or sometimes Dewey
> (Although
> > I am kind of sure Dewey
> > >>>> never actually used the word collaboration, but
> > I might be wrong). Anyway
> > >>>> the PISA document defines collaboration but
> in a
> > very simplistic way I
> > >>>> think so that it is not wrong but not
> helpful. I
> > know there was some
> > >>>> research around language (being able
> > >>>>
> > >>> to
> > >>
> > >>> create shared meanings). But so far to
> me it
> > seems to miss the
> > >>>> point, but I can't think what I would
> replace it
> > with. I guess you could
> > >>>> call this a request for comments. I find PISA
> > creating a test for
> > >>>> collaboration kind of dangerous.
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> >
> https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/Draft%20PISA%202015%20Collabor
> > >>>> a tive%20Problem%20Solving%20Framework%20.pdf
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Michael
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > It is the dilemma of psychology to deal as a natural
> > science with an object
> > that creates history. Ernst Boesch
> >
>
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