14.1

1). (Regarding chapter 11) Distinguish among a forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium as a means for making a public presentation. Which one would you prefer? Why?


What all these things have in common is that they are all group discussion venues. A forum engages the group who gives a presentation and the audience who gives feedback afterward. This is known as a form of "public discussion." This is closest to what we do in classes while giving a presentation if front of the class and then the class (audience) in an orderly fashion asks questions, gives feedback, etc. A panel is a bit more organized and formal than a public forum. With a panel, there is a moderator who first explains to the audience what is going to take place. The group consists of between four and eight "experts" while they discuss a decision/problem in front of the audience that needs to be solved. A colloquium, like the panel, has a group of several experts but who have much different views on a subject. There is a moderator who acts in the same way as for the panel, and an audience who also participates. A problem is discussed by the group in front of the audience as it goes through steps of problem-solving. Lastly, a symposium, stand alone out of all the others, consists of a moderator who introduces each individual speaker in front of an audience. Each speaker is very skilled on his/her topic and provides "technical" information on said topic. The audience listens contently without interrupting, however at the end a forum type format may be opened up by the moderator.

I would personally prefer the forum format since it seems to be what I relate to the most based on my experience with public speaking.

13.2

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

Five cultural barriers according to Harris (2008, p. 188) are 1) a requirement for conformity, 2) an expectation for practicality and efficiency, 3) particular arenas for competition or cooperation, 4) an expectation for politeness and following rules for social order, and 5) a trust in the power of reason and logic. These barriers may prevent groups from being creative because these barriers limit or eliminate communication between group members and therefore no creative ideas can form and be known. I have personally experienced a couple of these including “a requirement for conformity” and “an expectation for politeness and following rules for social order.” First, several times while participating in a group setting I would easily and quickly agree with the consensus, for example, if we were voting on something in particular. I don't usually like to be the odd man out and be the only one to vote a certain way, so I usually see what others say and then just go with them. Since there's a expectation in a social norm to be polite with/to others and especially to one's elders, I usually bite my tongue when in a new group. Around my friends especially and some of my family I have no problem saying what I think and volunteering my own ideas because we all have a mutual understanding of what is acceptable to our own group. Around new groups however I tend to succumb to the social norm of the expectation of engaging in politeness.

13.1

1). Provide an example of creativity from your own experience. How does it fit with the chapter's discussion of creativity?

According to the chapter, there are many definitions of creativity. The most basic definition says creativity is "going beyondthe current boundaries of technology, knowledge, social norms or beliefs" and "seeing and acting on new relationships, thereby bringing them to life" (Anderson, 1992, p. 41). Creativity just basically means doing something new or different. My friends and I are very creative by this definition, something that I wouldn't have otherwise thought prior to reading this chapter. For example, we are contantly cooking and preparing new dishes. One time in particular, my friend made scrambled eggs, but to be different and new (and goofy) he tried putting in every kind of spice that was available in the cabinet. Granted not many others thought it tasted good (but him and I liked it actually, we swear by it), but no one ever said creativity had to taste good, right? Another time, a few days before we were going to go to a dance club, we decided we needed to learn some new/better/more dance moves. So what did we do? We went onto Youtube and searched for just that. We found this one instructional video that taught a specific type of dancing and all of us stood there in front of my laptop practicing, step-by-step. These examples are probably not the most traditional forms of creativity but going by the chapter's definition they fit.

13.3

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussed during this discussion week, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.


Honestly, as I skimmed chapter ten looking for an "interesting concept" nothing really jumped out at me this week like something usually does. Maybe I'm just out-of-shape and practice answering these questions since it's been like a month. :P But finally I got to the section of sharing in the chapter and as it is the only concept that I thought of something to discuss it on I'm going to go with this one indeed.

This section of the book discusses creating two different types of "climates" in a group; a supporting climate and a defensive climate. Groups must share tasks with each other in order for their to be trust, and when there is no trust, that's when it becomes a defensive group. "We generally want to know how we fit in, what is acceptable behavior, what our roles and responsibilities are, how we can contribute, and what otherse expect from us" (Harris, 2008, pg 195). Without this, a group cannot have a creative interaction.

For example, a group must share and communicate the responsibilities or else none of the members will interact and therefore "creative interaction" is gone. This concept is sort of connected to group synergy, as it's saying groups need to communicate and work together to be the strongest it can be. Sharing is a necessary tool and practice in groups, in the professional and academic worlds.