Work of Vygotsky and many others towards understanding human activity in terms of social, historical, cultural, and individual development; includes definitions, readings, links to conferences

A special issue of the Journal of Computer-supported Collaborative Work on activity theory and design, guest edited by David Redmiles and me, will appear in December 2001.

Activity Theory originated in the USSR, developed by Russian psychologists Vygotsky, Rubinshtein, Leontjev and Lurija. The theory is a philosophical framework that allows the study of different forms of human practice. The practice can be viewed as developmental processes where both individual and social levels are interlinked.

Introduces activity theory, a conceptual approach that provides a broad framework for describing the structure, development, and context of computer-supported activities.

We coordinate and carry out research and development projects on change and learning in work organizations. We create and apply new conceptual tools for understanding and mastering transformations in work, technology and organizations.

This is a new Centre established in 2000 with the express intention of developing the research field through a multidisciplinary forum. We wish to contribute to and benefit from the community of practitioners and researchers working within the area.

Information about this group including membership, publications, congresses, society business, and relations to Society for Sociocultural Research.

International association for researchers and practitioners committed to a cultural-historical approach of human development.

Mervi Hasu's doctoral dissertation - Helsinki University. Activity-Theoretical Studies of Interaction and Learning in the Innovation Process. March 2001.

Martin Ryder's paper looks at activity systems from the perspective of the World Wide Web and Web publishing. It discusses notions of value surrounding web artifacts and considers the mediational value to the developer of anonymous communities that appropriate one's own online artifacts. The author investigates the significance of referring links from one web document to another, particularly from the socio-cultural perspective of Activity Theory.