Tuesday’s decoder table is a hypothesis. Today the room measures how much of a payload survives being wrapped.
Before the lab#
Nothing to prepare. Bring the decoder table from the lecture, printed or on a screen.
The relay can run with written cards at the edge of the room. Every role and the bare round still rotate; speaking out loud is not the only way to send a message.
Run sheet#
Times below run from the 14:05 start; finish at 14:55.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0:00–0:06 | Groups of three, mixed by the tutor. Choose three payloads from the bank, label them A/B/C and make two copies. Use the order A, B, C, B, C, A so different wrappers send the repeats. Assign writer, wrapper and decoder. |
| 0:06–0:26 | The relay. Six rounds. The writer gives a card to the wrapper, who sends it indirectly without stating the request outright. The decoder records a possible payload before the card is revealed. Together score intact, partial or lost, and note the bent maxim. Rotate roles every card; each person takes every role twice. |
| 0:26–0:38 | Bare. Three rounds, one speaker or writer each. Each person chooses a card and sends its payload directly. The others note what they understood. Each sender records what directness cost or saved them, including “no difference”. |
| 0:38–0:46 | Compare the two versions of one payload. What wording or context differed? Report one successful, partial or lost result; no loss is required. Keep a disagreement between decoders rather than voting it away. |
| 0:46–0:50 | Write one candidate rule and one observation that would count against it. |
Payload bank#
All six are fictional. Choose three; everyone gets a copy of the setting.
- At a party: “I want to leave now.”
- During group planning: “I think this deadline is too soon.”
- Beside an open window: “Please close the window.”
- After a tutorial: “I would like to have coffee with you on Friday.”
- In a group chat: “Please choose between Tuesday and Thursday.”
- During a study session: “Please stop talking about the exam for a while.”
The repeated cards make the wording comparison possible. Different decoders are another change to record, not a controlled variable to pretend away. Knowing the bank also makes this structured practice, not a sample of ordinary conversation.
What to notice#
Watch for a payload that arrives intact in one person’s envelope and gets lost in someone else’s. If it happens, compare the wording: which part changed the decoder’s reading? Keep both versions to revisit in week 11.
Write down the costs from the bare round honestly. For some people, saying “I think your plan won’t work” out loud costs almost nothing. For others it costs a great deal. Neither is the correct price.
What leaves the room#
Your group’s scored list, your own bare-round note, and a candidate rule about an envelope that worked, partly worked or was lost. These were classroom trials. Sunday’s journal needs a real exchange and a real second instance; use the candidate rule only if you can test it on those.