Distributed cognition is an approach that views cognition as extending beyond individuals to include interactions between people and tools or objects in their environment. It recognizes that cognitive processes involve interactions between internal and external representations. Analyzing a distributed cognitive system involves examining how information is propagated through communicative pathways between internal human representations and external artifacts. The DiCoT framework provides dimensions for analyzing physical layout, information flow, and artifacts to understand how a distributed system supports its goals.

1. [M3]
modern theories
distributed cognition

2. external cognition

3. it’s about the ways that people augment
their normal cognitive processes with
external aids, such as external writings,
visualizations, and work spaces
it related to the interaction between
internal and external representations
when performing cognitive tasks
it involves computational offloading
(externalization) to reduce memory load

4. skeuomorphism

7. cognitive dimensions

8. Abstraction gradient
Closeness of mapping
Consistency
Diffuseness and terseness
Error-proneness
Hard mental operations
Hidden dependencies
Juxtaposability
Premature commitment
Progressive evaluation
Role-expressiveness
Secondary notation and escape from
formalism
Viscosity

14. ecological psychology

15. the underlying statement
was that psychology
should be the study of
the interaction between
humans and their
environment

16. affordances

23. points of entry

26. signifiers

28. distributed cognition

29. Builds on the knowledge and vocabulary from
the earlier information processing theories in
cognitive sciences
The unit of analysis is a wider system, not
individual

30. Main Distributed Cognition concepts
Cognitive system - the interactions among people, the artifacts they
use, and the environment they are working in.
Communicative pathways - the channels by which information is
passed between people (phone, email, paper, physical gesture, talking)
Propagation of representational states - how information is
transformed between different representations.
● Can be internal (e.g. human memory) or
● external artifacts (instruments, maps, notes).
● Can be mediated socially (passing a message verbally),
● mediated technologically (pressing a key on laptop) or
● mediated mentally (reading the time from a clock).

31. Focuses on the way representations and technologies are used
for a distributed activity
Initially mainly used to analyse large systems supporting
collaborative work

36. Distributed Cognition Analysis
Not one single way of doing distributed
cognition analysis
No one off-the-shelf manual to be followed
Different frameworks

37. Distributed Cognition Analysis
● Event driven description
o Main goal, accomplished through one or more tasks, each task
accomplished through one or more operations
● Emphasizes information and it’s propagation through
the cognitive system
● Granularity of analysis depends on the research
problem and system under study
o Research problem e.g improving communication between team
vs understanding how to train the team?
o Unit of analysis (distributed system) should be determined by
functional relationships between participating elements
● Important to have extensive knowledge about the
domain under study

38. DiCoT
Developed by Ann Blandford and Dominic Furniss from UCL Interaction Centre in 2006
Dimensions of analysis:
Physical layout
Information flow
Artefacts

39. Physical layout
Space and Cognition
does the physical use of space support the goal directed operations
Perception
do the spatial representations support the process, are there clear mapping between the
spatial representations and the things that they represent?
Naturalness
does the form of the representation match the properties it represents?
Subtle Bodily Supports
can the body be used to support the cognition process (e.g. keeping track in a book by pointing
a finger to a specific line of text)
Situation Awareness
are all team members informed of the situation simultaneously?
Horizon of Observation
what can be seen or heard by a person (influences situational awareness)
Arrangement of Equipment
how does the physical layout of equipment affect access to information

40. Information flow
Information Movement
in which ways does the information move around the system (e.g passing physical artefacts;
text; graphical representation; verbal; facial expression; telephone; electronic mail; alarms etc)
Information Transformation
when and how do the representations of information change?
Information Hubs
are there central places where different information channels meet?
Buffering
is there a need to hold up some information to await for a appropriate time when it won't
interrupt important ongoing activities?
Communication Bandwidth
some types of communication impart more information than others (especially face to face)
Informal Communication
what is the role of informal communication (e.g stories about how the system behaves)?
Behavioural Trigger Factors
are the roles in team divided so that each member only needs to know what to do in response
certain local factors? What are these factors and roles?

41. Artefacts
Mediating Artifacts
what are the mediating artefacts that support the activities towards reaching the goal?
Scaffolding
what are the external artefacts that simplify the cognitive tasks (e.g notes, reminders)?
Representation-Goal Parity
how do external artefacts represent the relationship between the current state and the goal
state?
Coordination of Resources
when can an individual depend on external resources (e.g. written instructions) to decide what
to do next and when do they need to rely on internal resources (memorised procedures, such
as plans, goals and history of actions)? Based on Wrights Resource Model (2000).

42. Assignment:
● Keeping in mind the DiCoT dimensions, describe the
distributed system as a diagram:
o start with official/usual practices (routines and procedures
followed).
o Then describe in detail if there are workarounds that
have been developed when coping with various
demands, not supported by the system.
● The diagram should depict:
o the separate states of the practices leading towards the
goal
o all actors and artefacts
o different representational states of the information
(different media e.g. memory, paper, database query)

43. Distributed system under study:
your team work arrangement for completing
this assignment