SOCIAL FACTS: (Thanks, Dave!)

Social Facts centers on two questions. The first is, how do groups get anything done? …… Getting a group to accomplish anything means getting its members to set aside enough of their autonomy for the group to function as a relatively cohesive unit.

The second, related question core to the class is, what effects does, can, or should technology have on the way groups get things done? We are in the middle of a revolution in the creation of group value. The ability to use new

technologies, especially communications technologies, are altering the way groups form and function.

The question of technological effect is partly descriptive (What is happening with group use of technology now?), partly predictive (What will happen?) and partly normative (What should happen?) …… The goal of the class is to uncover interesting but as yet unachieved possibilities in our increasingly mediated group life.