A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Approach to Users, Usability and Usefulness

This paper takes an historical overview of the field of Human-Computer Interaction. It describes how the cognitive psychology emphasis on user involvement in systems development of the 1980s reached its limit by the early 1990s. At this point the focus shifted onto support for the tasks of users using computer-based systems in real contexts, a focus that ideally suits the mobile, ubiquitous and social technologies of the new millennium. The Cultural-Historical Activity Theory provides an appropriate framework for understanding this phenomenon and is adopted in this paper to present the work, over a seven year period, of a usability laboratory grounded in Activity Theory principles.

[1]  Irina Verenikina,et al.  Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Theory and the Zone of Proximal Development , 2003 .

[2]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Cognitive artifacts , 1991 .

[3]  D. Norman.  The psychology of everyday things , 1990 .

[4]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  User Centered System Design , 1986 .

[5]  James D. Hollan,et al.  Post-cognitivist HCI: second-wave theories , 2003, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[6]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  What do users really want? , 1989, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[7]  John M. Carroll,et al.  Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface , 1991 .

[8]  Jaakko Virkkunen,et al.  Understanding organizational learning by focusing on “activity systems” , 2000 .

[9]  Fred D. Davis.  Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology , 1989, MIS Q..

[10]  Colin G. Ellard,et al.  Context and consciousness , 1995, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[11]  Helen Hasan.  Integrating IS and HCI Using Activity Theory as a Philosophical and Theoretical Basis , 1999, Australas. J. Inf. Syst..

[12]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction , 1988 .

[13]  Liam J. Bannon,et al.  Beyond the Interface: Encountering Artifacts in Use , 1989 .

[14]  V. Kaptelinin.  Activity theory: implications for human-computer interaction , 1995 .

[15]  Susanne Bødker.  A Human Activity Approach to User Interfaces , 1989, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[16]  Alekseĭ Nikolaevich Leontʹev.  Problems of the development of the mind , 1981 .