Very helpful discussion! I am struggling with several ideas here regarding
the activity system object. Here's a big one for me. Kirsten's paper
contains numerous statements about researching activity system objects and
about properties of activity system objects, creating intriguing insights
for the reader to consider (they requires careful observation over time,
are constantly in transition, are evolving, multi-faceted, slippery, etc.).
But the bulk of her paper seems to focus on "conceptions," "perceptions"
and "constructions" or "constructs" of activity system objects - on the
part of the participants - particularly when analyzing the
ethnic-monitoring network EAWARN. So here is a line of questioning:
regarding the central focus of activity theory's inquiry into the object of
an activity system ... is the focus the activity system object itself ...
or is it the participant's **conceptions** of it? There can be no doubt
that the perceptions and conceptions on the part of the participants
regarding the object of an activity system will be crucial to the evolution
of that object, and should be of central concern in any analysis of an
activity system. But how critical is the partcipant's perceptions of an
object at any point to the effort of pursuing an understanding of the
activity system object itself? (For example, suppose many participant's
don't yet know much about the activity system object, such as the
mathematicians in the calculations department on the Manhattan Project
before Feynman had them told it was for an atom bomb? Did that change the
actual activity system object? (see Engestom 1987 Expanded Learning)).
I am thinking a distinction between an activity system object and the
conceptions of the participant's about it is a very important distinction,
and may be blurred by a strong focus on "conceptions" and "constructs"
without a parallel emphasis on the activity system object as an objective
social reality (something more than a "construct"). Am I on or off the
right track here?
- Steve
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