Activity theory and HCI
Victor Kaptelinin
2002-11-08
Outline
Introduction
Two waves of HCI
Post-cognitivist HCI: Second-wave theories
Activity theory as a middle ground
An overview of basic principles
The Activity Checklist
UMEA
Wave I: The cognitive approach
The focus on user interface
Experimental studies of factors underlying
efficient human-computer interaction
Models of the user
Usability criteria and techniques
Wave II:From human factors to
human actors (Bannon, 1991)
From product to process in research and design
From individuals to groups
From the laboratory to the workplace
From novices to experts
From analysis to design
From user-centered to user-involved design
From user requirements specifications to iterative
design
Wave III: Beyond...
Beyond work: learning, play, entertainment
Beyond adults: Children as design partners
Beyond general purpose computers:
Ubiquitous computing
Beyond tools: Persuasive technologies, etc.
Beyond HCI: web design, interaction
design, etc.
… and beyond
From UI to work to life...
understanding
informing
human being(s)
artifact
worker(s)
user(s)
evaluating
tool
UI
designing
What is activity theory?
A psychological approach based on culturalhistorical psychology
An interdisciplinary framework
An approach to the complex phenomena of
purposeful use of information technologies
by individual and groups in social context
What activity theory is not
Activity theory is a framework for thinking
about activity, not a finished body of a
theory
A conceptual framework, not strongly
predictive theory
An analytical tool, not a cookbook for
design and evaluation
Why activity theory?
The extending scope of HCI and CSCW
research
Studying context (from ”Situated actions”
to ”Contextual Design” and beyond)
Focus on ”user experiences”
HCI and CSCW in search of a conceptual
framework
A summary of the basic
principles of activity theory
Object - relatedness
Hierarchical structure of activity
Internalization/externalization
Mediation
Development
Object - relatedness
Subject and object
Unity of material and ideal world.
Another example: become a doctor

transform one’s own mind and body to
enact medical skills
Hierarchical structure of
activity
Activities and motives

conscious and unconscious
Actions and goals

conscious
Operations and conditions

unconscious, habitual
Poly-motivation
Hierarchical structure of activity
for an individual subject
Internalization/ externalization
Mental processes vs. external behavior
The nature and functions of internalization
The nature and functions of externalization
Intra-subjectivity vs. inter-subjectivity
Internal/external and individual/social: two
separate dimensions of human activity
Two dimensions
of human activity
individual
-
social
Image of the World
internal
external
Internal Plane of
Actions
instrumental
activity
multivoicedness
communication
collaboration
Mediation
Language and technology mediate
human experience
Accumulation and transmission of
social experience
Mediation of external and internal
activities
Technical tools and psychological
tools
Functional organs
Development
Object of study and research methodology
Practice as a result of historical
development
Types of development and methods of
their study
Zone of Proximal Development
The Zone of Proximal
Development
"The distance between the actual
development level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level
of potential development as determined
through problem solving under adult
guidance or in collaboration with more
capable peers"
Lev Vygotsky
Beyond individual activities
Hierarchy of motives
Collective subjects and activity systems :
two perspectives on supra-individual
activities
Engeström's model
instrument
subject
rules
object --> outcome
community
division of labor
Basic principles of activity
theory: A summary
Tools are used by active subjects (individuals, groups,
organizations) who interact with the world to achieve their goals
Subjects have hierarchies of goals which reflect, on the one hand,
higher-level objectives and their tradeoffs, and, on the other
hand, available resources
Subjects are shaped by their activities—having an impact on
their social/cultural environment, subjects impact themselves
Human experience is crystallized in tools and is transmitted to
other people by mediating their activities
Human activities undergo various kinds of developmental
transformations
A historical overview
1991 "Through the interface" by Susanne Bødker
1992 Plenary session at the EWHCI'92 Conference (S.
Petersburg, Russia)
1995 A workshop at the Third Decennial "Computers in
Context" Conference (Aarhus, Denmark)
1996 Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and
Human-Computer Interaction, MIT Press, ed., Bonnie Nardi
1998 ISCRAT Conference, June 7-11, Denmark
2001 Special Issue Journal CSCW on activity theory and
design, B. Nardi and D. Redmiles, eds.
2002 ISCRAT Conference, 18-22 June, Amsterdamaz
AT and HCI:
Main directions of research
Retrospective analyses based on activity theory
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
Participatory design, scenario-based design, and
industrial design
Activity-based workplace studies and design
Interface design
Developmental work research
Information systems
The overall structure of the
Checklist
Part 1. Means and ends
Part 2. The environment
Part 3. Learning, cognition and
articulation
Part 4. Development
Part 1.
Means and ends
Human beings have hierarchies of goals which
emerge from attempts to meet their needs
under current circumstances. Understanding
the use of any technology should start with
identifying the goals of target actions, which
are relatively explicit, and then extending the
scope of analysis both "up" (to higher-level
actions and activities) and "down" (to lower
level actions and operations).
Part 2.
The environment
Human beings live in the social, cultural world.
They achieve their motives and goals by active
transformation of objects in their
environments. This section of the checklist
identifies the objects involved in target
activities and constitutes the environment of
the use of target technology.
Part 3.
Learning, cognition and articulation
Activities include both internal (mental) and
external components which can transform into
each other. Computer systems should support
both internalization of new ways of action and
articulation of mental processes, when
necessary, to facilitate problem solving and
social coordination
Part 4.
Development
Activities undergo permanent developmental
transformations. Analysis of the history of
target activities can help to reveal the main
factors influencing the development. Analysis
of potential changes in the environment can
help to anticipate their effect on the structure
of target activities
Main issues in analysis
Functionality
Flexibility
Learning
Collaboration
Personal/ Social Spaces
Breakdowns
User resistance
Power differences
etc
Space mission as an activity:
the case of Apollo 13
collective activity
“pre-processed activity”
shift from one activity to another after the
breakdown
Suggestions
Suggestion 1: Video monitoring of Apollo 13 from the inside and
the outside, so that people at Mission Control could watch the
spacecraft and the astronauts.
Suggestion 2: Shared goal-specific representations indicating
sub-goals, priorities, distribution of responsibilities, and
available resources.
Suggestion 3: Support of decision making (primarily by the head
of Mission Control and those immediately responsible for the
decision) with explicit representation of options and
consequences associated with a specific problem.
Suggestion 4: Support of meaningful interpretation of
instrumentation data
Suggestion 5: Dedicated human assistants for astronauts
Suggestion 6: Systematic preliminary check of potential conflicts
and breakdowns at each phase of the mission
UMEA: User-Monitoring
Environment for Activities
Applications as environments: Coping with
multiple information hierarchies
Supporting Higher-Level User Actions: Existing
Approaches



Personal information management systems
Dedicated project spaces
Non-hierarchical information space architectures
The UMEA approach: Converting interaction
histories into project contexts
Rationale
minimize overhead and make the benefits of
creating project environments apparent to the
user;
 integrate personal information management,
communication, and management of tools and
materials;
 capitalize upon actual work practices of users.

Architecture
overview
2
project-tagged
interaction history
project context
4
PIM tools
7
1
resource lists
3
COM addin DLL
MS Office
6
5
User interface: Minimized overview
docu ments
fol –
ders
project
icons
URLs
con tacts
”maximize”
button
project resource
panel panel
resource
menu
buttons
User interface: Maximized overview
RL
CP
User interface: Project view
PD
PIM/
H
CP
ST
L
RL
An example use scenario
-- the user launches the UMEA application;
decides, which project to focus on;
selects a project and opens necessary resources;
continues working on the project, i.e., opens and saves
documents, sends emails, etc;
file names, etc, are automatically added to respective
lists of resources; PIM entries are automatically linked to
the project;
when the user switches to another project, he or she gets
an immediate access to PIM tools and resources related to
that project.
Main advantages
an access to various types of resources related to a
project “from one place”,
an overview of ongoing projects,
a possibility to instantly switch back and forth
between projects, and
the help provided by the system in recalling the
context of a project, which made it easier to
resume working on the project after a break.
Main problems
the need to manually clean up resource lists
and/or interaction histories from time to
time to delete irrelevant items,
some participants experienced difficulties
with understanding the user interface and
the functionality of the system
Prospects for future work
Heuristics
Two challenges
New directions of development
Questions
???