Day 16: Interactive Network Activity

-- What was the word you were sent, and what is its definition?-- What was the word you were trying to send, and what is its definition?-- How long does it take you to send your message using this method?-- Was it easier to send or receive a message using this method?-- What were some of the bottlenecks?-- How could you speed up this process or make it more efficient?

The word I was supposed to have received was “factotum,” which is defined by Wikipedia as a general servant or a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. However, I did not receive my entire message (I only got 4 out of the eight letters) and did not receive or hear the numbers correctly when they were relayed to me, because I got a different first 4 letters than my sender.
The word I sent out was “gremials,” which is defined as being is a square or oblong cloth which a bishop, according to the "Cæremoniale Episcoporum" and "Pontificale", should wear over his lap, when seated on the throne during the singing of the Kyrie, Gloria and Credo by the choir, during the distribution of blessed candles, palms or ashes, during the washing of feet in the Mass of the Lord's Supper, and also during the anointments in connection with Holy orders.
Using the method we initially used in class, relying messaging between each other was a tedious task, but for the most part people got their messages across. It did take the class close to an hour to relay our different 8-letter-word messages though. I also feel like the people who were louder and more inclined to speak up, were the ones who got the message out more clearly and faster than others.
For me, it was easier sending out messages rather than receiving them, because I could choose when I wanted to send them out, the content in which I was sending out and I was prepared for the task, as opposed to when you receive the message, you have to be ready to write it down, hear it clearly and then decode it.
Some issues or “bottlenecks” that the class ran into were collisions when people started to speak up all at once and there were also some issues with people not hearing their message clearly and having to figure out how to tell their sender the problem. We tried a few different methods of relaying messages through our network and in the end stuck with our original choice, of sending out messages at random.
I believe you could make this task more efficient by utilizing the circle method of allowing each computer/person to say their message and if they have no message send it on to the next person.