Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction

402 Pages·1995·12.597 MB·English

by  Bonnie A. Nardi

Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2.1 Mediated relationship at the individual level 28
2.2 Basic structure of an activity 28
2.3 Hierarchical levels of an activity 30
2.4 Examples of activities, actions, and operations 33
2.5 Potential ways of supporting activities by information technology
36
2.6 Activity theory areas corresponding to the defined levels of re-
search objects 38
3.1 Expansion of the subject matter of HCI: three dimensions 48
3.2 Computer tool as an extension of the internal plane of actions
52
3.3 Computer-mediated group activity 59
5.1 The "information processing loop" of human-computer interac-
tion 105
5.2 Two interfaces in human-computer interaction 111
6.1 Cole and Engeström's analysis 124
6.2 Application of Cole and Engeström's activity analysis 126
6.3 Typical screens from Dinosaur Canyon 133
6.4 Screen from Media Fusion 138
7.1 Engeström's model 151
7.2 The object is present only in the artifact 152
7.3 The object exists as a physical object 153
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viii Figures and Tables
7.4 The only object is physically co-present outside the artifact 153
7.5 Characteristics of the system, tool, and media perspectives 154
7.6 A breakdown using a report generator 156
7.7 An overview of VIRK 162
7.8 Generating a report 164
7.9 The objects and focuses involved in report generation 166
7.10 Using the page numbering form to insert page number 167
7.11 Screen 167
9.1 A fragment ofEarth by Guiseppe Arcimboldo 206
9.2 General design of the joint attention study (experiment 1) 207
9.3 GeneraI design of the joint attention study (experiment 2) 209
9.4 Two connective personal views of Arcimboldo's painting 211
9.5 Sample protocol of the Repertory Grid Technique 221
9.6 Common view of networkers 223
9.7 Common view of system administrators 224
9.8 Diagram of cooperative modeling 226
12.1 Convertibility of the internal and external forms in human
subjects 293
12.2 One chronotope 294
12.3 One node of development 302
12.4 The vertical axis of development 305
12.5 The ontological and phenomenological aspects of development
317
12.6 Visualization of one possible development case 318
12.7 Space for the creative conceptual efforts of interested readers
320
13.1 Postal Buddy kiosk 326
13.2 PostaI Buddy network 341
13.3 Postal Buddy network extended 343
13.4 The problem with the fax 354
13.5 Finger used as a remediating tool 357
13.6 Another customer used as a remediating tool 358
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Figures and Tables ix
13.7 Activity system of Postal Buddy Corporation 366
13.8 The local post office identified as a missing link in the Postal
Buddy network 369
TABLES
6.1 Analysis of Dinosaur Canyon 134
6.2 Analysis of Media Fusion 139
9.1 Matching methodology of process level 228
13.1 Key persons interviewed 329
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Preface
There is a fundamental need for a theory of practice in human-computer
interaction studies. This collection offers readers a chance to become ac-
quainted with activity theory as a means of studying practice. Activity
theory is a psychological theory developed over the course of some 70
years in the Soviet Union. It is concerned with understanding the relation
between consciousness and activity and has labored to provide a frame-
work in which a meaningful unity between the two can be conceived.
Activity theory is pertinent to technology design and evaluation for a
large number of reasons elaborated in this book, but fundamentally
among them is an emphasis on artifacts, of which computers are a par-
ticularly interesting example, as crucial mediators of human experience.
The contributors to the book have varied backgrounds but all have
used activity theory to illuminate issues of human-computer interaction.
Some contributors are eminent activity theorists, others new enthusiasts.
All share a concern for excellent science and humane technology.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I introduces the reader to
activity theory. Part H illustrates the use of activity theory in practical
design. Part III contributes to the theoretical development of activity
theory.
I wish I could say that this book resulted from an intensive exciting
workshop in which the contributors hashed out issues of activity theory
and human-computer interaction. But in fact I have never even met some
of the contributors to the book, not in person anway (though I hope to
remedy that situation when I can). Instead of a workshop, we instigated a
special-purpose virtual community forthe creation of the book so that
we could complete it in as timely a fashion as possible. Inspired by
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xii Preface
Susanne idker's book, Through the Interface, in which she introduces
activity Leory to the human-computer interaction (HCI) community,
and recognizing that the moment had come to provide a furtherlook at
the work of a variety of activity theory researchers, we "just did it."
Our virtual community worked well, and the book was conceived and
gestated through upwards of 700 e-mail messages, from the first message
I sent to Kan Kuutti, on September 7, 1993, to the time I shipped the
papers to MIT Press on Halloween, October 31, 1994.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our first acknowledgment then, must go to the Internet, without which
we could not have assembled this book. Working in six countries, in
differing research traditions, across academia and industry, the technol-
ogy linked us together for the accomplishment of our common purpose.
It was a privilege, and I do not use that word lightly, to work with the
contributors to this book, most of whom have much longer acquaintance
with activity theory than I do. Any edited collection is a fragile craft, es-
pecially one plying the virtual seas, but the contributors proved sturdy
and resourceful sailors. It has been a deep pleasure to learn from and
work with them.
At Apple, I thank my manager, Jim Miller, for his continuing support
of my work. I enjoyed stimulating discussions with many of my Apple
colleagues about activity theory and design, and I thank Rachel Bellamy,
Tom Erickson, Charlie Hill, Matthew Holloway, Don Norman, Dan
Rose, Dan Russell, Mike Tschudy, and Jenny Warts for their interesting
perspectives on activity theory. At the Apple Research Library, Lorin
Hawley kept me well supplied with reference materials and citation
checks, and I am grateful for his timely and probing search efforts.
Several people commented on individual chapters; we profited from
the generosity and thoughtfulness of Olav Bertelsen, Michael Muller,
Vicki O'Day, Robert Szulkin, Steve Whittaker, and Jay Zimmerman.
Bob Prior and the proficient staff at MIT Press gave full support to this
project, and I thank them for their advice, enthusiasm, and practical help.
Many thanks go to Nicolas Spomior, who supplied the English trans-
lation for Vladimir Zinchenko's chapter.
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Preface xiii
Bran Boguraev, my colleague in the Intelligent Systems Program at
Apple, supplied the language-based domain modeling software used to
automatically generate the index terms for book. My thanks to Bran for
help with this burdensome task!
I am very grateful to Victor Kaptelinin who provided help at every step
along the way of compiling this book. Victor answered my questions
great and small, provided much practical help in communicating with
Russia, and nevçr failed to offer encouragement and sound advice. I am
very much in Victor Kaptelinin's debt.
My family, as always, provided love, support, and good times. I lov-
ingly acknowledge my husband, Chris Darrouzet, and my children, An-
thony, Christopher, and Jeanette.
And finally, the contributors and I acknowledge activity theorists and
their predecessors in the cultural-historical school in the Soviet Union
who worked, often under extreme duress, to provide us with a way of
looking at things that is expansive and enriching and will continue to
animate and motivate our efforts to understand human activity. This
collection is dedicated to them.
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Introduction to Part I
In part I, basic concepts of activity theory are explored with respect to
human-computer interaction (HCI). I begin this part by outlining in
chapter 1 some themes of activity theory and their relation to HCI
studies.
Next, in chapter 2, Kan Kuutti motivates the current HCI interest in
activity theory: the laboratory-based research paradigm has been "un-
able to penetrate the human side of the interface." The perspectives of
Carroll (1987, 1991), Bannon (1991), and Grudin (1990) are used as a
backdrop for a consideration of HCI and its discontents and the ensuing
struggle to change and reformulate the basis of HCI research. Kuutti
discusses the historical roots of activity theory and its terminology. He
provides an overview of basic activity theory notions: activity as the unit
of analysis, history and development, artifacts and mediation, the struc-
ture of an activity, and the levels of an activity. Kuutti incorporates some
of the Scandinavian extensions to activity theory in the overview. He
concludes with a discussion of the potential advantages of activity theory
for HCI studies.
Victor Kaptelinin (chapter 3) notes the discomfort we feel when we
think about extending the purview of HCI studies to include the messy,
intractable world beyond the laboratory, beyond the human-machine
dyad. This "explosion" of our subject matter is potentially a "powerful
expansion of the object of study," but it also "creates a feeling of con-
fusion." Kaptelinin discusses the ways in which activity theory can help
to provide conceptual anchors to deal with the greater compass of our
interests. He summarizes key activity theory notionsfunctional organs,
internal plane of actions, levels of activity, and developmentand argues
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4 PartI
that "computer-mediated activity," rather than "human-computer inter-
action," is a fruitful way to define the scope of our research activity.
One of the key points Kaptelinin makes about a strength of activity
theory is the importance of its integrating framework linking a set of
theoretical principlesrather than what we often get in HCI, which is
an insight here and an insight there. Kaptelinin provides an example of
the power of a larger theoretical framework, comparing Norman's
(1991) notion of "cognitive artifacts" and activity theory's notion of
tools. Cognitive artifacts are on one level almost identical to tools, but in
activity theory, the notion of tools draws on principles of mediation, in-
ternalization, and functional organs, leading to very different conclusions
about the nature of tools, as Kaptelinin details. Finally Kaptelinin dis-
cusses some of the limitations of activity theory.
In chapter 4 I compare activity theory, situated action models, and
distributed cognition. Each research framework is considered with re-
spect to unit of analysis, the categories that support a description of
context, the extent to which each treats action as structured prior to or
during activity, and the stance toward the conceptual equivalence of
people and things. The chapters in this book are tied to the themes in this
chapter, providing at least one orienting framework for considering them
as a whole. An argument is made for the theoretical richness of activity
theory while visiting highlights of situated action and distributed cogni-
tion. Methodological implications of activity theory are summarized.
This discussion anticipates the practical tools of activity theory analysis
described and applied to empirical work in the chapters in part II.
Victor Kaptelinin in chapter S contrasts some of the key notions of
cognitive science with activity theory. He discusses the fundamental
project of activity theory, which is to understand the "unity of con-
sciousness and activity." Basic principles of activity theory are described:
object-orientedness, the hierarchical structure of activity, internalization/
externalization, mediation, and functional organs. Kaptelinin notes the
continuing links between cognitive science and activity theory, observing
that activity theory "does not reject the experimental results and tech-
niques accumulated within the cognitive tradition."
Those well versed in activity theory will find that we include a great
deal under the activity theory umbrella; that is, we include the founda-
Copy teriaI