Group items tagged

But as the number of friends begins to increase—particularly over that magic Dunbar number of 150—the spell begins to wear off. At this scale, we simply can’t easily keep track of it all. When our number of connections rises above 150 everything becomes simply comments, as real conversations tax our already limited ability to interface with the network.

That mythical thing, social connection, doesn’t flow over these networks; information flows over these networks. The only reason the network ever felt meaningful was because, at small scale, the network operated like a community. But that breaks apart at large scale.

The thing about all these is that they’re not a shared experience—they are my experiences, which I am sharing with you, but you probably cannot experience with me—my thoughts or fascination with the article I just posted, the feeling of getting on that plane, or the thrill of watching the Sharks tie the game. Perhaps you can compare your notes of your own experience of these things; that’s what most Twitter conversation seems to be, to me, but the experiences are not shared. This differs from a discussion in a community, such as the type that occurs on SB Nation game day threads. The conversation does not center around any one individual’s experience, but rather the collective condition of the community. The conversation is the experience. Each comment is driven with the purpose of evoking and expressing the emotions that the community experiences, and particularly the ones they hold in common.

severe

ittle headway

communications gap.

made in the paper.

struggled

in my explanations

cultural factors plague important aspects of ESL communications in the writing center.

ack of a shared linguistic knowledge base,

ifferences in the educational, rhetorical, and cultural contexts of their language

Understanding those differences helps in formulating beneficial principles of communication

rhetorical models are quite diverse

In some cultures, one would be considered rude or abrupt to announce one's point immediately.

Socratic dialogue

didactic context

shared assumptions and patterns of language

apply a principle they have learned to a grammar error.

communicate collaboratively

ole as cultural/rhetorical informants as well as collaborators.

Cultural differences in body language

attitudes and preferences

The acceptability of degrees of physical proximity and eye contact differ between cultures.

it down first and allow the student to establish comfortable body positioning

ake body language cues from the writer

encouraging the student to speak up or ask questions

utor can foster discourse through slightly modified behavior.

temptation to address too many issues in one session

effective communications is best achieved by limiting the topics covered within the session

English is not the primary language.

The driving force behind limiting is prioritizing.

the primary cultural barrier to communication

ack of fluency in conversational dialect

Close observation is a key to interpreting and dispelling cultural interference.