Words&Minds. Chapter 5 Persuasion Control and Argument.

Mercer delineates the micro and macro of communal social communication system. Origins of human interaction which once smaller communal clusters now is being extended to the vast spectrum. Communities now have joint intellectual activity outlined as history, collective identity, reciprocal obligations and discourse.  However there must be a shared understanding for the content involved to prolong the continuum of the group, and thus maintain cohesion. This can be a code of any subject matter from musicians to mechanics troubleshooting the best way to fix something.  Genre also must be understood in the context of communities where subject matter is treated accordingly. Virtual communities now are on the rise but still have an etiquette, even if their luster alone is attracting people towards short term interests. Moreover communal duties are transferred into the virtual world. This includes system or administrators of a forum allowing people to enter into the group on a probation period, moderating content, editing posts from members. CMC has implications to real time and humanism. Time can be irrelevant in CMC or have severe consequences in the interactions and relationships between people.

 Decided upon norms through the exchanges of communication are quick and full of jargon that users are accustomed to. Yet exclude if outsiders do not know the codes of communication.

I have no doubt that CMC is heading into education on all levels. However I have pondered the future of the art classroom. As an art classroom is a micro social system, it provides social and communal lessons for all students that other subject do not. Students do not continually compare math results, or an English paper because it deals with absolutes and right or wrong. Art is different in that there is no real wrong answer to a creative problem. There exists many ways to answer a common question. Societal norms are understood and continually updated in interactions with others, and forms of visual expression that demonstrate the users unique intent are autonomous. Yet Students learn off by compare and contrast through avenues of query and edit through peer interactions. Visual art has it’s own verbiage that was taught by the instructor, could it be understood if not shown the proper example online? If the artistic classroom was converted to a virtual community that was either synchronous or asynchronous, I think some of the social skill set that is honed would be lost. So it is up to unique educators in art education to figure out the right balance of instruction.