Re: a thought from Shep White
vera p john-steiner (vygotsky who-is-at unm.edu)
Sun, 21 Sep 1997 11:14:38 -0600 (MDT)
I found Shep White's note of interest as some of the most intense
collaborations I have been studying have a 10-year life cycle. (For
instance, Picasso and Bracque). In looking at these, it is helpful
to differentiate between division of labour "settings" or models,
which once institutionalized do have different dynamics than creative
collaborations, which are more generatively driven. It is the latter which
can be powerfully transformative, but are also likely to lack the high
degree of institutionalization of a profitable setting, such as
MacDonald's.
Perhaps, a setting which is highly institutionalized is not likely
to support transformative human activity (Kuhn's normal science),
while the more informal, but frequently very intense collaborative
settings/activities, though relatively short-lived, favor discovery,
paradigm shift, etc.
Vera
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Vera P. John-Steiner
Department of Linguistics
Humanities Bldg. 526
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-6353 or 277-4324
Internet: vygotsky who-is-at unm.edu
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