Week 12:D2

Name five cultural barriers to creativity.  Why do you think these would keep a group from being creative?  Have you experienced any of these personally?  Explain. 

The five cultural barriers to creativity are requirement for conformity, expectations of practicality efficiency, expectations of politeness, rules for social order and dependence on generalizations.

People like to follow the rules of a certain culture because they do not want to get left out or mock for what they are thinking or doing. A lot of the time the culture builds its own norm and one does not want to break out of the norm. It is because different cultures look at numerous things with a different light. By thinking outside of the box, it might offend the culture due to the cultures values and beliefs.

I personally do not think I have experienced any cultural barriers because my parents and family members do no really care about the things that I do. They also do not really stick to our “culture” and traditions, so my uncle, aunts, and older cousins are the one loosening the rules for my generation. For instance, in the Chinese culture we have a party to celebrate the baby’s 100^th day birthday, it is also called the red egg. Why this is celebrated I have no idea. But often times my cousin will not do this party but instead just throw a huge first birthday party for their child, breaking the rules of the culture. 

Week 12: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I think one concept that was interesting was maintaining openness in a creative group climate. By being open we are able to see what others are thinking and create a better idea with others’ thoughts. The book describes how group creativity depends on the climate itself. By giving off a supportive climate, members will trust and respect each other. Creativity comes from all sorts of people and ideas, so it is helpful when groups are open to the different ideas.  People are self conscious, especially in groups so it is helpful for groups to upkeep the concept of openness. I am one of those people who are self conscious in a group and do not like talking much because I am scared about what other people might think. On the other hand when I am in a group that seems to be more open to things, I tend to be able to contribute my ideas. I personally believe that when we keep openness in groups we are able to come up with the best and more original ideas. 

Week 11: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading this week, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

The idea of leading a CMC group meeting is pretty interesting. I think it is important to have a leader in a CMC meeting because I see how it is harder to conduct and keep the group on task over the computer or media. There are some common traits between leading a F2F and CMC group meetings, for instance being encouraging and being able to organize meetings. But as a CMC leader, as the book states, be aware of the nonverbal communication in the meeting. This might be hard because we cannot see the nonverbal cues in the messages through CMC. As leaders we should take that in account sometimes. Honestly I think that being a leader of a CMC group is a harder than being a leader in a F2F group. Overall I thought it was a neat idea since I never really think about the “leader” in a CMC group. 

Week 11: D2

How do anonymity, group size, and proximity influence participation and communication in CMC groups?

By not knowing the group members in a CMC group can be beneficial.  This is because people can communicate more freely with one another, not worried about the judgments others will make. For example last year I had to do a group project through CMC. Everyone was comfortable to share ideas with one another. Group size can be tricky with this type of communication. I believe that communication will be more effective because it will be convenient to everyone to meet up. More ideas can be thrown out as well. I know for me I tend to not participate as much in a big group during F2F because I feel like my voice and ideas get drowned.  As for participation, I believe it will be easier since no one will seem to be intimated. Since we can see others we would not be afraid to share. For proximity CMC allows everyone in the group to communicate with each other anywhere.  

Week 11: D1

How does CMC differ from f2f communication? 

CMC means that the communication takes place though the media such as the Internet and text messages. Face to face communication means that it takes place between two physical people. CMC differs from F2F communication in a lot of ways. One thing that is different is the interaction in CMC can be much slower. Because it is over the media, people tend to take their time while responding with each other. Another difference is that when we communicate through CMC we are able to think about what we say to the other person, giving a more thoughtful response. When communicating in person we are put on the spot and we have to basically speak what we could currently think of in that moment. CMC cannot capture the non-verbal cues of the person speaking due to the media barrier, unless the communication is done through video conferencing. This actually might be more convenient when meeting in bigger groups. Personally I like seeing those non-verbal cues during my conversation. 

Week 9: D3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it

The thought speed for a barrier of listening is pretty interesting. This happens because we tend to think faster than we speak. I believe that we are all unintentionally applying this concept in our daily lives. I am guilty of wandering with my mind when I am "listening" to someone because I am more concentrated in my own thoughts. When this happens I would thinks out what I am and will say but when it finally comes down for me to say it I forget. For example when I am in an argument, I would tend to think faster than I speak because I have so much to say. So when the other party is talking, telling me their views, I would jump ahead and start to think about how I would reply along with my new comments. This is a bad habit because I feel like I am not giving the person my attention and that it is a form of disrespecting the person as well.

Week 9:D2

Give a personal example where you have had selective attention.  Why do you think this is?  Is there a way you were able to overcome it?

Selective attention means choosing a message that seems to have importance to us over another. We tend to pick out, sometimes unintentionally what we would rather listen to. It is also hard to give our full attention sometimes because of our internal noise. We tend to see how important our thoughts are over what is actually happening. For example when I am attending a conference or a big meeting where there is just one speaker, I tend to not listen as well. I would actually be thinking about what I would do next after the meeting or thinking about what an issue I have, totally zoning out the speaker. When the topic seems too hard or it doesn't interest us, we tend to not listen very well either. This can be overcome if one just listens to the speaker and give an undivided attention. It can also be helpful if one just looks at the speaker by giving them eye contact.