Group Cognition

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This work explores the necessary software design, social practices, and collaboration theory to support group cognition, defined as collective knowledge constructed by small online groups. The innovative use of global and local networks of linked computers enables new forms of collaborative working, learning, and acting. The author examines the technological and social changes required for computer-supported collaborative knowledge building, emphasizing how group cognition can surpass individual cognition limits. Active media provided by computers facilitate social group cognition, allowing ideas to develop through group interactions. The software's functionality can effectively manage discourse, leading to shared understandings and collaborative learning. The author presents software design prototypes, analyzes real-world collaboration examples, and develops a collaboration theory focused on groups as the primary analytical unit. Design studies highlight mechanisms that support group formation, diverse interpretive perspectives, and knowledge negotiation across various applications, including collaborative curriculum development by teachers and NASA engineers' space voyage designs. The analysis reveals how small-group collaborations create intersubjective knowledge through discourse, forming the basis for a social theory of collaborative knowing. Additionally, the author addresses the distinction between group-level meaning m