Distributed Cognition in Online Generative Collectives: Enabling Collective Generative Capacity through Reflections, Interactions and Representations

摘要

Analyzing online group activities against the backdrop of an increasingly connected world, this empirical paper extends the concept of "distributed cognition" as a theoretical lens for explaining why some Internet-based collectives are more generative than others. These so-called Internet-based generative collectives—groups of people with shared interests or goals who mutually engage in generative acts—evolve around three processes of distributed cognition, namely reflection, interaction, and representation. Using Q-methodology, the relations between these three dimensions of distributed cognition and the generative capacity of Internet-based collectives is explored. The findings of a Q-factor analysis reveal that processes of distributed cognition lie at the heart of generative collectives. Furthermore, depending on how enabling the underlying structure and available technology of a collective is, an environment emerges in which the processes of interaction, reflection, and representation can flourish, thereby maximizing the collective's generative capacity. Finally, implications for practice and future research are discussed.