Comments for Importance of shared context

Comment from Edward Vielmetti on 2005-10-21

2005-10-21T18:38:23Z

Thanks Jack. (For a bit of shared context backstory, I met Jack through Meshforum, so we share some context around that event.)

I haven't thought through this yet, but I'm pretty sure that proximity leads to reciprocity. That is to say, if we're near each other in some way we'll start to respond to each other just by sheer force of gravity. My experiences with being a telecommuter who spent a week a month in the home office just so that I could be part of hallway conversations reinforces that impression - distance is a barrier to shared context in many ways.

Comment from Christina Pikas on 2005-10-21

2005-10-21T18:45:12Z

You ask: "What is it about shared context that is so important?" - it provides for 1) common ground and 2)shared framework. Because you and I read many of the same blogs (or blogs that point to the same news), we could probably understand each other immediately with abbreviated references to information external to the conversation. (like quoting Monty Python or Sesame Street in some circles). No one in my f2f world reads these blogs, so an entire background is required to explain a simple point made informally.
It's like interdisciplinary team collaboration -- more than just jargon impedes information sharing ... actually whole world view.

Comment from Matthias Melcher on 2005-10-23

2005-10-23T23:08:27Z

"abbreviated references": good point, Christina. And not
only abbreviated, but also rough and fuzzy language, during the early stages of knowledge creation where notes to your community are similarly unclear as the notes to yourself, on the continuum depicted by M. Boettger that Jack linked to before: http://blog.jackvinson.com/archives/2005/02/07/information_as_cues_to_knowledge.html. Magdalena also added to "the interpersonal questions of trust": "--> little amount of defense/justification neccessary", such that argumentation becomes easier.

Trackback in article Blogs and shared context from Knowledge Jolt with Jack

2005-11-02T05:53:17Z

Nancy White asked for clarification of my comments about shared context in some types of online communities. [Read More]