3). Pick a favorite concept that we have covered through this course and post about it. Explain the concept to refresh our memories. Tell the class why you have chosen this concept, and what it is you like about it.

Nonverbal communication is probably my favorite topic in our class since I love to read about ways to bring relationships with people to the next level. Acquaintances becoming friends then becoming best friends is a light at the end of the tunnel (in a good way, not death). The eight principles of nonverbal communication is the quality of the relationship is established, when we do or say something inconsistent nonverbal communication is more believable, nonverbal communication is more meaningful when our groups assign meaning to it, our interpretation of others are guided by context and power relationships, groups operate in the norms and expectations of a culture they are apart, our view of nonverbal cues lead to meaning, men and women have a difference in accuracy at getting nonverbal cues correct, and we can become better at interpreting other people's nonverbal cues if we improve our own actions and interpretations. As said earlier, I chose this topic because I love to read about ways to being relationships with people to the next level, bringing people together is always a nice feeling. Nonverbal communication is just one of the many important steps in developing a solid friendship or level of intimacy with others.

2). What have you learned throughout this class? What was your favorite thing about the class? What was your least favorite thing about the class? How can this class be improved?

I learned a lot about CMC and the importance of roles in Small groups, these two ideas widened my range of compassion for those who meet online than people who meet in person (its tough to maintain) and roles are natural in most cases and need to be taken into consideration when choosing group members. My favorite thing about this class was the weekly work, I personally feel the topics and the amount of work is PERFECT and I am able to learn in a more consistent pace since each assignment gets straight to the point. My least favorite thing about the class was probably the length of the project, two days only provided me with enough details for a 1900 word essay, not a 2500 word essay, I felt I was going to cycle information about the paper in the end which felt unworthy. The class is great just the way it is other than the project length, I often wonder myself if I should take another course under the great Carol Perez!

1). Discuss your Group Observation Project. Was it a useful exercise? What did you learn? What was good about the project? What can be improved?

I always suspected the group observation project would be a delightful experience since I get to watch a small group form something beautiful. In my case, I watched a Chinese Shuai Chiao (grappling) club blossom and seeing the work of everyone together truly shows people who understand each other and are on the same level with each other are capable of bringing success to the table. I feel that the only thing that needs to be changed about the project is the length, I feel 2500 words might be too long for a project where you only visit for two days, I cannot give as much details about a small groups progress in just two days I would need more days to get enough details for the 2500 word limit or just two days as long as it was 1700-1900 words instead. But other than my one constructive criticism opinion, everything about the project was great.

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.

I actually feel the RISK procedure is a good thing to mention this week because I have met many people who do not realize the problems that can arise in starting a small group. One example I can give is my friend's Karate Club at SJSU, he was very positive of the club's opening but he did not come up with a way to bring more members in or how to create dedicated members. All the events were announced through facebook and no personal contacts were really made, he kind of just expected people to come now that he made the club. I find it important that someone like him refer to the RISK procedure only because I feel that when you want to start a group you should be aware of failure and attempt to find a way to prevent roadblocks in your progress. For those of you who do not know what the RISK procedure is, it is where you list and brainstorm ways to prevent yourself from lacking success and preventing roadblocks.

2). Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in. Contrast that with competitive conflict. Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party?

I can't say that I 100% understand this question but I can say that I went through a style of accommodation that could contrast into a competitive conflict. I once offered all the information I had to my senior instructor in hopes of having my Wing Chun School gain understanding in who I am, why I'm there, and what I'm willing to do for the school. It turned out that my senior instructor completely misinterpreted 80% of the things I said as if I was a bad guy just trying to embezzle in the school's reputation and funds. In a competitive contrast I assume he was only doing it so I would not become a future threat to him so he used my information to try and have me expelled from further attendance to the school. I had no real gain in this situation, I only learned that the man was a jerk. As for which was more satisfying to me I cannot really say. But I'm sure my senior instructor was satisfied only because he was able to show off his knowledge of something once again, but this time in a horrible context. I'm not quite sure if this is the answer to the question but hey I tried my best trying to answer it.

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

Out of the four different types of public presentations I would prefer to use a colloquium. I chose the colloquium only because it sounds a bit more informal than the other styles of public presentation and it still can be capable of exerting power to the audience. Allowing humor can create bonds with the audience and they're likely to listen but just having speeches and Q&A alone can seem like a threat to our presentation at times. Just a simple single word question like “Why?” can actually boggle a persons memory and the speech can quickly lose track of what its intention is. Which is still reason to why I think that a colloquium is my public presentation of choice because at least I will be allowed on stage as a flexible human being with quick and flexible emotions. Speeches with just a Q&A alone are like speeding trains, even 2 cents can cause it to run right off the track and start a fire.

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.

Emotional barriers is a topic I would like to speak about this week, mainly because I had faced emotional barriers all throughout this week. This week I was supposed to complete a 2500 word project, I had the idea, storyboard, and action sequence set. But then I caught something like a stomach flu or just plain flu and I felt terrible all week. I could not think of the outgoing ideas that were running all throughout my mind before. I had become cynical and slept 80% of the day for 4 days straight. In the end I lost all motivation toward the project and just wanted to scrap it. I felt I had to inspire myself so I played some games and watched some shows, it helped me a little but it was enough to kick me hard enough into working on my project like I was before. The book says that some ideas are not even challenged because they have already been done. I normally challenge the existing products by going around the actual product and adding things that it did not have before. For example if you assume that a motorcycle can not be improved you are very wrong, put some wings and jet fuel in that thing and maybe you'll have a flying motorcycle.

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.

The cultural barriers I have faced would have to do with technology, religion, politics, gender, and age. I feel that technology is a large creative barrier solely because there are many users that do not know how to become creative with technology. When I look at apple technology I feel it is linear and too simple, have you noticed that each of their new products do the exact same thing in most cases? The idea of being simple all the time and having little change has given technology alone a creative barrier. Religion stops our ideas of a functioning America solely because old school conservatives believe (in short) that pride comes before action. The bible says that gays cannot marry is one of the reasons why orphans cannot be adopted, is a strong American the one that grows up alone or with a family and people united behind them? Politics is a creative barrier only because of the dual party system we run in America, I feel that there are many uneducated voters that just choose a side and stick with it to the end without actually looking at the policies during election time. Gender causes creativity in fashion to be very one sided, for example skirt-like features only go on women's clothes and suits and collars for men, need I go on? Age is the final cultural barrier because everyone's beliefs are so much different from those people who grew up in the old days, the older generation are the ones with the money while us young generation people jump hoops in hopes for their approval for our ideas. Overall cultural barriers are pretty much in my opinion “Just trying to get on mommy or daddy's good side.”

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

I prefer to be creative in my assignments only because I like to go around the assignment to make it larger as opposed to making my creative assignments in a single direct goal. For example I just recently chose to do a 5 senses writing assignment as my final paper in my comm100w class. When you think of the 5 senses you just think of see, hear, smell, taste, touch. But when I did my 5 senses assignment thought of how to make the scene lively and active just like a living breathing person who has the 5 senses. So I decided to make a movie as a visual aid for the paper's presentation (mainly because a movie is the one place where you can see how a person reacts emotionally using their 5 senses). How this fits the chapter's discussion is the use of doing the assignment in a way not many people would choose. I chose to go outside of the box which applies to the power to originate in the chapter's creativity discussion.

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

Gender Swapping sounds like a bad term but it is an important aspect of CMC communication only because it can be a total game changer. In massive multiplayer online role playing games also known as MMORPGs we often assume because of American television and the internet, that most of the MMORPG players are men who do not have much to do. But don't you find it surprising that there are many female characters being played on these games? In these games you can pick a gender of your choice, these character genders can create an image that we see on the game and instinctually we assume that the player is either male or female. Many men who play these MMORPGs lack a relationship and when they meet women who have the same interest of playing video games they fall head over heels in love with them as long as they're attractive to them. Just like society in person the men could appear much more helpful and generous to someone that they are sexually attracted to. On these MMORPGs some men use that in advantage, as disgusting as it sounds some men choose a female gender in their MMORPGs just so they can trick other men into giving them items. Because CMC requires that we build our own image of who we speak to through CMC only a character avatar or image can really trick us into assuming something about others. I could totally just change the name of my blog to something like Susie's flowery blog and you would assume I am a woman. Beware of the CMC dangers!

2). How do anonymity, group size, and proximity influence participation and communication in CMC groups?

These factors influence participation and communication in CMC only because we all have our own opinions on what or who a person can be. When you meet someone through CMC and have a lot in common with them, talk to them on a daily basis, and have a sense of dependency on them you would probably have a positive image of the person even if you haven't seen their face. The best example I can give about how we create an image of others through CMC would have to be issues with customer services of companies. Sometimes when we send an email to something such as Best Buy or Toys r Us and do not receive a message back we could develop a negative image of the company (possibly because when we send questions to a company, it is usually important or urgent to us). Some people would say that best buy or toys r us after not hearing back from the companies, are unreliable and lazy (this is because they are large companies that rely solely on sales and need people to stay alive and kicking). Now if we knew the majority of the people that work for these companies personally, then we would be a bit more lenient on the companies actions or use a scapegoat of a new worker making an error. If these companies treat us well that would very well be another reason why we could end up lenient for a company that others consider bad.

1). How does CMC differ from f2f communication? (Think outside the box).

CMC is computer mediated communication which is communication done through text only sources such as emails, chat rooms, and social media. There is no face to face contact, no emotional tones, and no images of a person involved. In CMC we have to get to know a person through responsiveness of the texts received, use of words in messages, and how long we spend talking to the person through CMC. Some say that CMC takes much longer when it comes to building a relationship compared to face to face methods. But others have claimed that relationships built through CMC can be no different than relationships built from Face to Face contact as long as an appropriate amount of time has been put into CMC. Building relationships through CMC is tough only because we do not have an image or emotional impression of a person that we can only obtain through F2F contact. In CMC we can only build an image we create on our own of the other person until we meet them in person. In my opinion pictures with no sound and no expression do not do the same justice as meeting people in person.

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

Motivation is an important aspect in finding friends and business partners in my opinion. When you have a topic and someone is just dying to listen to you it just means that they're motivated by you and want to hear what you have to say next. You could solve many life problems when your motivation brings you to being a better listener. If a person in the medical field is motivated to listen to you can just tell that you're going to have a good future doctor if the person you speak with is interested in hearing about your new methods on how to keep healthy, or how to make a procedure easier for patients and doctors, or how new technology will help patients. Motivation is what makes a job's quality and time for a person better. I feel that find more ways to have people motivated to listen to others will benefit businesses and groups.

2). Give a personal example where you have had selective attention. Why do you think that is? Is there a way you were able to overcome it?

Selective attention? That's a super easy topic for me to talk about. I'm sure most of you have selective attention when it comes to your parents. I personally have selective attention because I get annoyed of impossible consequences that my mom tells me. “Oh, you didn't get the Chinese newspaper for me?!?! HMPH WELL YOU'RE NOT MY SON AND YOU'RE A BAD KID WHEN YOU GO TO SCHOOL!” I personally choose to have selective attention in these cases just so I can avoid making myself angry about the situations. With my style of selective attention my mom's words would be translated to “Oh, you didn't get the Chinese newspaper for me?!?! HMPH WELL YOU'RE MY SON AND YOU GO TO SCHOOL!” The reason why I have selective attention around my mom is only because she is negative about 90% of the time. Its better for my psyche for me to just not listen to her because if I did I would go crazy from all the anger.

1). Think of a recent situation in which you found listening difficult. Which one (or more) of the four phases presented the most difficulty for you? Why? How could this have been overcome?

I personally feel that I have trouble sensing because of noise, my girlfriend thinks that I just have selective attention but I feel that would make me feel like a jerk. I listen to her but there’s usually a lot going on around us in restaurants and shopping districts that I just can't totally hear what she says 100% of the time. I could have avoided this if there were less people around making noise but that feels uncontrollable in my opinion. Because I cannot hear her in noisy areas such as restaurants or shopping districts I usually find myself trying to piece together the puzzle of what shes saying so I can avoid having her repeat what she says. Reason why I avoid asking her to repeat herself is because she often gets offended to doing that. My evaluation of what shes trying to say during my noise problems usually come out as a 50% chance of good. My problems could be easily overcome if she didn't feel so offended when I ask her to repeat herself, at least repeating herself would give be a better idea of what shes talking about.

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

I'd like to speak of powerless stereotypes from this chapter because I feel that even as a United country the people of the United States weaken themselves through stereotyping, prejudice, and racism. I sometimes fall into the thought of stereotyping, prejudice, and racism so don't take this as an offense to America.

Anyways, powerless stereotypes is what causes us to draw incorrect conclusions of other people. There was once an episode of South Park where Eric Cartman kept on telling his friend Tokken Black (a black child) that since Tokken is black he's supposed to have a bass guitar and know how to play bass. Tokken was angry after he realized how he fit Eric Cartman's stereotypical view so perfectly.

The two powerless stereotypes listed in the book is sex-role and ethnocentrism stereotyping. In the sex-role stereotype we face a daily struggle between men and women's opinions and decisions. I currently have a male friend who refuses to practice Wing Chun Kung Fu because it was originated by a Buddhist nun (a woman). Even if Bruce Lee was the one who made Wing Chun Kung Fu popular through his own practice, my male friend continues to deny the practice even if Bruce Lee practiced it himself. Ethnocentrism is a problem we face in the United States and it involves races in most cases. Do Asian people drive well? Do white people get arrested more than blacks? Do latino people look for work through resumes or behind a home depot? I'm sure that you have heard of all the stereotypes as long as you grew up in the United States. But that's the issue with ethnocentrism the horrible views of all the races cause us to go through Homophily and all we want to group up with is those that are culturally the same as us. Which is reason enough for me to say that our United States isn't 100% United after all.

2). Explain proxemics and chronemics. Are there universal rules for all cultures regarding these concepts? Give personal examples if possible. Give examples of personal experience in other cultures regarding these two concepts.

In the community of men and women Proxemics can be taken in many wrong ways. If you are working out at a school gym and you choose to use the machine next to the pretty person it could imply that you are attracted to that person. In a negative result the pretty person could leave the machine next to you as soon as you arrive, that could mean that he or she is uncomfortable around you. Proxemics is the invisible boundary around you that attracts those around you. (104)

In the business world Chronemics is one of the many factors that we face. “Time is money” is a common saying here in the United States and it applies to Chronemics only because Chronemics is the study of the use of time. (105) In Asian culture being punctual is a very strict aspect in meeting anyone at any time but it is also a one or the other situation in our community. There are people who are strict Asians on time and there are others who are on the so called “Asian time” Asian time refers to being late all the time, I'm not going to go too deep into detail but as of now but in my opinion “Asian time” probably is an inside joke which originated from the different time zones compared to the United States. My girlfriend is an extremely punctual Asian woman and the problem is sometimes she gets so punctual no matter what occasion she stresses herself out.

1). Return to the eight principles of nonverbal communication. Pick two principles, and provide new examples of how they operate in a group or team.

For this post I decided to pick principles 2 and 5. First up is principle 2 “Our nonverbal communication is likely to be believed more than our verbal communication.” The reason why I chose this is because the importance of intimacy in our mutual or romantic relationships. I'll say that the best example for this would be a person who assumes what another person is going to do. You can notice how well you know a person when you already assume their actions 1-2 steps ahead of them. Lets say your best friend is going to buy an expensive car, if your friend is well informed you would assume he or she is buying the car because of its overall performance but if your friend lacks information you could assume that he or she is buying the car for its color or cup-holders. This principle also applies in professional fights and poker as well, though the participants do not know each other a pattern of nonverbal communication can occur through small twitches, breathing, and habitual movements. When I enter my fights for martial arts I normally say “Everyone is scared of something in a fight, it does not matter how tough you are you're going to flinch to things you don't like such as nut shots or hits you barely notice.”

My second choice out of the eight principles was principle 5 “Cultural norms and expectations guide our interpretation.” The reason why I want to talk about this principle is because I have noticed that I make friends with other Asian people much more quickly than other races. The reason why is because we have expected cultural norms of each other and we understand our decisions culturally. A non Asian man could come up to me and talk to me about my parents and how they want me to get straight As and become a doctor, because he is different culturally I would feel offended. But if another Asian man were to tell me the same then I would laugh it off with them. Its not racist of me or anything its just that the status of a person could deliver humor in a good or bad way. Is it funny for a man to talk about women being raped compared to men talking about men being raped? Its your opinion from there.

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

Ethical reflection is the quick and small topic I wanted to talk about for my last post of this week. I feel that since ethical reflection in a group is what governs the morals of the group it is a very important aspect that should not be ignored. I will give you questions that you will probably disagree to.

Is it right to harm a child that is not your own? Is it okay to borrow your group members items without asking them? Would your group members be happy if you flirted with their spouses?

Without ethical reflection groups become untrustworthy amongst each other and your common goal will no longer be the focus. You should get to know your group a bit before getting into the heavy workloads, give them snacks, get some drinks, or maybe play a game with them. Any small opening into a person's heart can really get the creative juices flowing and you can avoid nasty unethical pitfalls as long as you are aware of what your group feels is right or wrong.

2). Outline and discuss the guidelines for providing observer feedback to a group.

- Avoid generalizations – This means that you should not say something vague, if someone does well do not just say something like good job because you need to specify what is the good thing they did.
- Focus on Behaviors that can be changed – This just shows that you know the weak points of an idea that does not 100% agree with you, take initiative!
- Do not debate or argue with the group you are evaluating.- You're not the king of the world, a group is there for you to work and help with your common goal!
- Do not micromanage the group – Trust your group to take care of the jobs that they have, if you take over their work what's the point of being in a group that you do not trust?
- Remember your role – You have a job to tend to, it's okay to ask your group what you need to do but remember to follow through with your job!
- Accentuate the positive aspects – If you use negative comments in the beginning you have a chance of depressing your group into becoming pessimistic, find out what you did well and make that wellness grow!
- End with specific suggestions for improvement. - You need to clarify what needs to be done, as a group member if you don't say anything, do anything, or not know anything nothing happens.
-Be clear and concise if you present your ideas orally or in writing. - Not everybody will understand your inside jokes, inform them!
- Compliment in public and criticize in private is an accepted practice in most professional settings. - You don't want to shout out at your group members and humiliate them with negative comments now do you? Have some compassion, they might be working harder than you are!
- In an organizational setting, developing positive relationships during the feedback process will repay itself time and again. - Doing this could actually open deeper gates in your friendships and you might find easier and efficient ways of working with them! But I don't recommend making friends just because you want business with them, that would be dirty!

1). Why use a consultant or an observer for a small group? (Remember, carefully think through your answer. Your final project is based on this very concept).

In a group there can be difficulties trying to come up with ideas because often times we worry that we will take too many things into consideration of our group members and we end up restricting our creativity. A consultant observer is important because they have no problem with the considerations and issues within your group, mainly because he or she is not apart of your group this is only beneficial because he or she will be able to give you ideas right off the bat and you and your group could just narrow down which idea is best as you go down the list.
An observer is something that each group member becomes when there are no outside sources to help us. As an observer you would go out and review the topics or subjects required by your group. I like to think of it as collecting credible sources for a paper, as an observer we are all required to make sure the information is valid so our group members can handle the information properly. Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkey understand and report back to group for evaluation.

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I know this is probably the shortest part of the book but I feel that ethical behavior is a good topic. I often see on Reddit.com that there are many posts in relation to atheism. Atheism is is the rejection of belief that a mythical entity exists, in short it means not believing in god.

My family claims that they are Christian believers and I have no problem with any religions really. But using the religion in defense for your actions is normally an unethical result. Often times each year my family would get together for the holidays and talk about their problems, they'll agree with each other on issues and reject some. But when something serious goes on and they know they did something bad they would say “I'm not a bad person I didn't mean to do it, I'm a Christian!” Now just seeing that you would assume it is a small non-serious matter that just occurred, but my aunt made Christianity look bad when she claimed that her actions of “attempting to have another man sexually molest my girlfriend” is not “A bad thing because what I did is correct, I'm a Christian.”

As I said earlier I am no atheist but I hate it when people misuse the peace of religion to justify their unethical behavior.

Ethical behavior is pretty much a set group of standards that many agree upon, what my aunt did is considered unethical since she defaced a religion and had a man commit a crime. In the United States the only ethical standards I know off the top of my head is don't steal, don't cheat, do not harm others, and work together to become strong. If no one agrees with any of those standards then I guess I need to review ethical standards again.

I hope I didn't steer too far from the topic with my aunt's problem but I feel that it was a good example of what unethical behavior looks like. As a fellow citizen I ask you “Do you think what my aunt did was ethical?”

2). Explain the concept "white men of privilege". Do you agree with the concept? Why or why not?

As the times move on the concept “white men of privilege” is gradually degrading in my opinion. If I were told the concept “white men of privilege” I would instantly picture in my head, a white man with a top hat, monocle, and glass of wine. I often see white men nowadays dressing as hip hop artists, people who have respect for surfing or skating, or people who go to a coffee shop in the middle of the night to talk about evil corporations. I suppose that since I mention these suggestions of how I view white men I guess you could say that I “No longer agree with the term.”

Since white men were the first to develop a culture in the United States after taking it away from the Native Americans, I feel that they were also first to adapt to their own culture. Also since they were able to be first to adapt to their own cultures they were also the first ones to forget about their Irish, English, German, or etc cultures before any of the Asians, Indians, Africans, or Europeans were able to adapt to the Western culture found in the United States.

Since diversity is so high and the cultures of white men are disappearing I feel that most white men will lean more toward other cultures, this explains why I see white men acting like they're tough black guys, speaking Japanese to communicate with Anime fans, or even white men acting like the Jersey shore. I've always felt like white men just want to have a tougher or more popular persona by adapting to cultures that are either tough or popular. I hope this didn't come out offensive, this question is tough for a Chinese guy like me haha.

1). Does valuing diversity come easily? Why or why not? Can you make some suggestions to enhance a group's ability to value diversity?

Diversity can happen anytime any anywhere and since we live in the United States we are slowly leaning more toward a western culture found in each race. In my family I feel that culture is slowly degrading in terms of Chinese culture and we choose the style of United States freedom, rights, and ethics over our old culture. But we tend to look back at our previous culture so we can show respect to those who brought us into the world.

I feel we only value our diversity more when we have something at stake. As I mentioned earlier, my family chooses a United States style of freedom, rights, and ethics since we feel that we would be happier and richer than our old Chinese culture would expect, financial stability and happiness are at stake in that decision of which culture should we have.

As for suggestions to enhance diversity I suppose we should all take trips around the world together to get an extreme view of cultures and races around the world. Have a small group come together with a common goal of working together in many different settings or environments.

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

Cohesion is a subject that I found interesting and I feel that it can closely relate to the Synergy term discussed in the earlier chapters we already read. Cohesion has to do with a groups ability to work with one another, the factors and traits each member has, the work that each member can contribute, and the ability to work together. If we imagined a video game company to produce a game which would you feel will make a better game? The company that has employees that work well together and can have fun together? Or the company that has employees at each others throats and run as far away from each other as quickly as possible?

Good cohesion can help you get to know your group better and you can see the personal expressions, emotions, and schedule flexibility. As for the quality of work cohesion can help decision making's quality and results along with the consistency of the group's work.

I feel that cohesion is an important subject to speak of because we need it in order to create better projects and create a better community overall.

2). Distinguish between internal and external constraints. Provide and example of each one from your own experience.

According to page 146 of the book External constraints in a problem are things such as money, time, energy, knowledge base, or other resources that the group needs for the decision making process and to implement a solution. While Internal constraints would be things such as government regulation, limitations, physical location, and technical or design difficulties.

I once tried to open a Wing Chun Kung Fu club at SJSU but there were many constraints that ended up making the decision to not open the club at all.

The external constraints of the club was that money was too much of a problem for students since it would normally cost a person outside of SJSU 100 dollars per month to attend, many people do not understand the forms so we would need a better curriculum, classes would only be 1 hours per day and there could only be 2 days per week.

The internal problems were the largest factor in the decision to not open the club since Senior students of the Wing Chun school outside of SJSU did not agree to the opening, there was no qualified instructor who learned up to the weapons set (the highest instructor we had only knew 2.5 forms), and the decisions to not open the club were mostly lead by a 13 years experienced student who's sole intent was to take over all decisions (political imbalance among the Wing Chun school).

1). Are there group norms at SJSU? What are they? In the group of individuals that you spend time with, are there group norms? What are they? In both cases, how did you identify these norms? How did you adapt to these norms?

I have no particularly been with many groups in SJSU but I have seen some group norms among the martial arts classes and clubs found on the SJSU campus. In the martial art classes and club of SJSU you should and would normally listen to the Sifu, Sensei, or instructor rather than to make your own claims or beliefs of the martial art you are attending. Your senior's words should be respected and it would be rude to overcast your own words over his or her's. How I identified these norms was through other students and the results of actions. I've seen students get critical review from senior instructors and students for just attempting to claim that they know better than them. In short an Instructor, Sifu, or Sensei could say something like “If you like what you see on youtube ask the source to be your teacher not me!” I only adapted to these norms through self study and determination, I learned that the best teachers are really the ones you closely relate and affiliate with. No one martial arts instructor can make you a world champ only you can make yourself a champion of anything

3). Pick one concept from the reading assignment this week (Ch.2) that you found interesting or useful and and discuss it. Please discuss a concept that has not already been discussed this week so far.

I would like to speak of environment in this post. I know it is somewhat a simple and easy to understand concept but I find it interesting because of groups such as the MPAA.

Small groups can be groups within larger groups (which are also called environments), in this case the MPAA is a small group within society. The MPAA's environment is the general public and they do what they can to make sure the general public is protected from inaccurate ratings. So the MPAA gives ratings such as “G”, “PG”, “PG-13”, “R”, and “NC-17”. The MPAA watches every U.S. Movie before public release and gives it a rating based on its content. Most of the time the MPAA attempts to protects people under 17 years of age from homosexuality, sex, criminal behavior, and other things they consider unethical. If the MPAA cannot give an accurate rating then how could their environment trust them ever again? Even worse their environment could go into shambles causing their whole environment to fail. The MPAA plays strict rules upon movies and makes sure they keep it accurate so they may continue to do their job as a small group that protects the general public.

2). Explain how entropy and equifinality impact small groups.

Equalfinality can impact our small groups when one party within the group disagrees with the method chosen by a member amongst them. We often have these disagreements in current U.S. Government since we have Republicans and Democrats having to work amongst each other. Imagine if you were going to hike a trail with a group of friends. Five out of six of you are willing to take the trail given to you through the map while one creative friend decides to climb over the rocks over to the right because he or she claims there is a shortcut on the other side. That friend goes alone even if the group disagrees with he or she going there but in the end both parties end up in the same place. Does this give any type of bond between the parties? Who can say? In the end both parties ended in success and that's what mattered. Equalfinality can create entropy since we all have our beliefs toward our methods. The worse case of entropy would be that one of the parties become so angry that they do not hike the trail at all and lose focus. I could imagine the hiking group having trust issues with each other during and after the ordeal. But if the hiking group takes time to understand and work with each other even with their differences their success would be worth much more than intended. Equalfinity and entropy should be watched after carefully within small groups, any imbalance could create failure in certain parts of the group.

1). Groups are living systems based on interdependence and interrelationships. What happens to a small group when parts of the system do not function well? Provide two examples from your own small group experiences that show the importance of understanding interdependence and interrelationships.

Small groups work in many ways and there are hardly small groups that we can find totally linear and exactly like others. Each small group has their common goals and the members of the group would become interdependent on each other so they may feel their line of work is fair and respectful. When a group member falls out of the group's system or process chaos or entropy can occur, this can also cause the interrelationship to fail slightly or worse yet become completely ruined. When I mention failure or ruin of interrelationships I do imply that trust is the factor.

A weight room is where my first experience in small group activities occurred. My friends Joe and Peter were apart of the weight training class and we kept each other motivated. Our interdependence was found when we realized that we needed to motivate each other to keep the spirits alive. Another factor in our interdependence was spotting during bench press, we knew that if we did not have each other we could not bench press like we wanted and even if we did bench press without each other it would just lead to failure. While we were spotting each other for the bench press I suppose you could say that spotting itself was a large part of the interrelationship, spotting was a signal for each of us to take turns and make sure we don't get killed by the barbell. This was a system that we had for each other in the weight room and our common goal was to motivate each other to become physically fit.

In my second experience I was apart of a Tae Kwon Do skit which was required as the final for the Introductory Tae Kwon Do class at SJSU. Our group only consisted of 3 members. Jay the Shopkeeper, Jeffrey the triple knife wielding maniac, and Me the lottery winning innocent bystander. Jay was needed physically to provide the setting (the mini mart), Jeffrey was needed as an attacker (by using his three knives), and I was there to demonstrate techniques that we learned through the semester. We spent about an hour and a half practicing the skit and we knew that our roles made the skit successful. We now have a closer bond with each other since then and would not mind doing a skit together again. We gained interdependence through our common goal and details of the skit and we gained a better interrelationship through the skit itself because we had our own type of signals towards each other that only we could understand our script for the skit played a factor in our interrelationship since we knew when and where to be during the skit thanks to the script.

Comm141p Section 80 1st assignment

Hello all!

My name is Timothy Lee and I am happy to be apart of the Comm141p section 80 class!

I enjoy Martial arts, gaming, and traveling (although I often lack the funds to travel).

I currently attend "San Jose Wing Chun" it is a Chinese martial arts school. For those of you that do not know Wing Chun was made popular by Bruce Lee and Grandmaster Ip Man. It is a close range combat system which was often used in Hong Kong and was developed by a Nun named Ng Mui. My Instructor is Sifu Ben Der and our schools Grandmaster is Sigung Kenneth Chung. Someday I hope to travel to Hong Kong and explore more Wing Chun Kung Fu schools in that area.

I chose to sign up for this class because I normally work with groups in person but am not used to the online forums and group work found online. I'm here to build more skills in online communication and become more focused on internet learning so I may overcome the urge of looking at Facebook while working.

Hope to have a fun semester with you all!

-Timothy Lee