Activity Theory provides a long-term view of how the technologies we design will have long-term affects. It's just a little complicated.
Activity Theory is a bit of an umbrella term for theory that is rooted in Soviet Psychology and explains cultural and human behavior practices in terms of practical activities. The theory itself is composed of a hierarchy activities that frame it on multiple levels. This structure is composed of an activity (the motive), the actions (the goal) and the operations (the condition).
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Some of the important figures working with the Activity Theory include Susanne Bødker, Yrjö Engeström & Terry Winograd.
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Some key elements of Activity Theory are...
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Activity Theory
- Capable of solving practical problems
- Consideration of Social interaction
- It is rooted in a meaningful context
- Consideration of Culture
- Consideration of the Individual
- An understanding of human consciousness
- Is not limited just to information
- Looks at the relationship between human and object of environments
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In a nutshell, Activity Theory focuses on an activity is undertaken by a subject (which is a human!). This subject is motivated toward the solution of a problem (this is called the object in Activity Theory jargon), and this process is mediated by tools (aka artifacts) in collaboration with a community. Activity theory takes culture into account as the structure of an activity can be constrained by cultural factors. It's all quite exciting.
