dcog

=Distributed Cognition=

(See also Distributed Learning, Distributed Learning and Distributed Cognition, Two views of Distributed Cognition )(needs links) ( //this first paragraph is confusing...the second one seems more clear & concise. delete?// )

While there is no doubt that humans have the capacity for thought, we are increasingly coming to understand how complex the distribution of thinking is in the head as well as to appreciate the complicated ways it is distributed across people, present and past (Soloman, 1997) and with tools that embody our thinking (Hollan, Hutchin, & Kirsch). The social, cultural, historical forms of distributed cognition extend beyond individuals and exist in the activities that connect them; it is embodied in the tools they use. Technological advancements make it vastly easier for people to externalize what they know, think, and work on this knowledge in a shared distributed format. In fact, the human use of cognitive tools creates knowledge that is distributed in the culture, extends across time and space, and is shared in social settings. In fact, the very presence of mediating tools, from initial literacy to current complex tools of digital technology are external forms or artifacts that can be thought of --"shared minds made visible" (Riel, 2008). Working with these tools makes possible for people to work with knowledge that is not fully developed in any one persons but shared across social, cultural, regional, and historical contexts (Cole and Engsetrom, 1997).

Hollan, Hutchins & Kirsh (2000) observing human activity “in the wild,” described three ways that cognitive process can be distributed:
 * 1) They can be distributed across members of a social group either co-present or over a distance.
 * 2) They can distributed between internal process and external (material or environmental) tools.
 * 3) They can be distributed across time with products of earlier events transforming the nature of later events.

Distributed cognition is a way of describing the interactions among people who, whether knowingly or unwittingly, are interacting with each other in specific contexts with complex sets of tools, resources, and artifacts that both constrain and mediate the actions of the group. In Distributed Cognition the tools, environments, contexts, as well as more distant cultural and historical factors permeate all aspects of the activity. The participants acting in the settings are not equally aware of all of the factors that link their actions and ultimately shape the way that they approach problems or accomplish tasks.

VISUAL: Below are two images, the first representing a classical view of cognition. The second represents a distributed view of cognition. These two images may help us decipher how the different terms are merely different "frameworks" for looking at human cognition. Classical Cognition vs. Distributed Cognition


 * Ultimately, distributed cognition is a framework for studying cognition wherein the unit of analysis is understood to be influenced socially, materially and/or temporally. Compared to classical cognition, distributed cognition extends knowledge systems beyond the epidermis of a person's skull and situates it in a wider context according to socio-cultural influences.**

"While in traditional cognitive science cognition was considered to re- side in the head, recent approaches have moved the boundaries of cognition beyond the head (Norman, 1993; Hutchins, 1995a; Clark, 1997; Haugeland, 1998). The limitations of cognition as symbol-based computation are being highlighted by cognitive scientists who acknowledge that, for certain pur- poses, it is more appropriate to consider cognition (and intelligence) as a property of the whole system within which the individual functions rather than as something limited by the skin or skull (Clark, 1997; Greeno & Moore, 1993; Zhang & Norman, 1994; Norman, 1993; Hutchins, 1995a; Hutchins & Klausen, 1998). The image of mind that emerges is that of the leaky mind es- caping its natural confines and mingling shamelessly with body and with the world. (Clark, 1997, p. 53)."

--Karasavvidis 20002