Making internal processes external for constructive collaboration

Abstract

Information technology has the potential to promote joint creation of new ideas. It has become widely recognized that the workings of human cognitive processes heavily rely on physical externalisation of the interaction of those processes with outside environments, including other people in those environments. Such externalization takes various forms, from conversation, written texts, sketches and memos to simple physical "records" of actions taken in the world. For example, the mere location of a tool recently used can be interpreted, for instance, as a sign of the progress of the work. Externalized records are useful because they serve as sharable and concretely manipulable objects for constructive collaboration. Recently developed information technology can help people keep better records of such externalizations, reflect upon them for making changes and restore them when necessary. Altogether, these records and operations feed into constructive collaboration. The author gives examples of collaborative externalization of cognitive processes and show how they lead to deeper levels of understanding and creation of new ideas.