Acting With Technology: Activity Theory And Interaction Design

by Victor Kaptelinin, Bonnie A. Nardi

A systematic presentation of activity theory, its application to interaction design, and an argument for the development of activity theory as a basis for understanding how people interact with technology.

Activity theory holds that the human mind is the product of our interaction with people and artifacts in the context of everyday activity. Acting with Technology makes the case for activity theory as a basis for understanding our relationship with technology. Victor Kaptelinin and Bonnie Nardi describe activity theory's principles, history, relationship to other theoretical approaches, and application to the analysis and design of technologies. The book provides the first systematic entry-level introduction to the major principles of activity theory. It describes the accumulating body of work in interaction design informed by activity theory, drawing on work from an international community of scholars and designers. Kaptelinin and Nardi examine the notion of the object of activity, describe its use in an empirical study, and discuss key debates in the development of activity theory. Finally, they outline current and future issues in activity theory, providing a comparative analysis of the theory and its leading theoretical competitors within interaction design: distributed cognition, actor-network theory, and phenomenologically inspired approaches.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Technology, Research, Theory

333 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Brent Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intended as an intro to socio-historical activity theory (CHAT). I would say "intro" at a doctoral level - haven't yet seen how master's students would really benefit. What I found most helpful about the book was

- placing CHAT in context with related theories - ethnomethodology, phenomenology, etc.

- differentiating different CHAT theorists (Engestrom, Leontiev, etc.

- understanding the critical role of intentional agency in CHAT processes, in contrast to some other frameworks like actor-network theory

The focus of the book is interaction design, a broader field than instructional design. Close enough though, with enough links, to make it really interesting and relevant to my work.

[Fernando · Rating 2 out of 5]

The authors do a good job in comparing Actor-Network Theory, Heidegger's Phenomenology and Distributed Cognition to Activity Theory. But they seem to have a very superficial knowledge of the contributions of Actor-Network Theory to their field. In most of the book, they are trying to rescue human intentionality from the theoretical conceptualizations left on the field by Actor-Network Theory, missing most of the points that explain the principle of generalized symmetry that they seem so decided to despise.

[Alamir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite an elaborate book as it's incredibly dense with useful information for anyone interested in understanding activity theory. It situates activity theory amongst other disciplines and takes care to explain both its history and its potential future. I suggest that after reading its example cases, to make sure to read the appendix where It also provides detailed templates on how to *use* activity theory.

[Kgalyen Galyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If activity theory confuses you, and you want a more recent take by respected people in the field of human-computer interaction and interaction design, get this book. It will help you apply the framework to multiple technological contexts.

[Susanna Nocchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book for whoever needs a framework for analysing Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and computer-mediated activities.
Activity Theory is a useful framework and this book clearly explains the main tenets of the theory and its current and future issues.

[Lilly Irani]

We're reading this in my activity theory reading group with Bonnie Nardi.