Don
More than one person around here has a problem with "shared." I
should have said the same object of activity. As long as we have the bottle
of wine, we may enagage in activity for a while. We might also experience
a major disturbance. Let's assume that if I always buy at cheap bottle of
wine at my turn to buy. You become angry and call me a cheap free-loader.
My feelings are hurt. Our friendship is about to end. I understand your
feelings. However, I really don't know much about wine. I always heard
that you can pay as much for a poor bottle as you can for a good bottle. It
makes sense to me to purchase the cheap bottle! I talk to a few of my
friends about how much you are miffed. They suggest that I need to learn
more about wine, so that I can purchase a good bottle that is within my
price range.
I am off to expansive learning and transformation over in another
activity system. I go to wine a wine class. I join in on every wine
tasting I can find. I take trips to wine country. I purchase wine
newsletters and joing a wine lovers listserv. My change was brough about by
aiming my activity at a bottle of wine, while you were aiming your activity
at the same bottle of wine. Aiming acitivity at the same object cause
problem.
I don't think that we can say we are members of a wine drinking CoP
at this point. However, if we increased the frequency and duration of
aiming our activity at bottles of wine, we might soon find ourselves around
people and in places where there was similar activity. The crowd might be
seeking different outcomes, but its activity is directed toward the same
object.
Call them a community of wine drinkers. The bottle of wine is one common
object around which a lot of activity is organized. It would seem a bit
cumbersome to say, "hey, did you know Bill and Don have joined an activity
system of wine drinking:-)
Bill Blanton
William E. Blanton
Department of Teaching and Learning
319 H Merrick
School of Education
P. O. Box 248065
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL 33124-2040
Blantonw@miami.edu
T el 305.284.5053
Fax 305.284.6998 or 305.284.3003
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