K E E P E R : online conversation support scaffolding modeled after ancient and modern social technologies

Emergence, when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, is an awe inducing phenomenon seen within nature, complex organization theory, physics, art, and philosophy. Humans can experience emergence or interdependence, a perhaps less potent version of emergence, when they come together, transform, connect, and grow in a way they could not alone through co-creation, playing games and sports, and telling stories. As such moments are scarce, cultures and groups ancient and new have developed technologies (in the sociological sense meaning techniques, processes, and material objects to produce goods, provide services, and connect people) to help groups reach those moments more easily, technologies I define as ancient social technologies (ASTs). Some ASTs, such as narrative coaching, circle practice, and dialogue across differences, have been developed for decades, even generations, to help groups reach emergence together in person.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Hughes, Margaret

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Deb Roy.

• Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130606

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/130606