Computer systems used in work weawe in many ways deep into the patterns of
life at the workplace. System designers have already long been aware that
constructing a working technical system is but a tip of the iceberg of the
change process involved, but finding conceptual and methodical tools to
deal with that larger change has proven to be a tough problem indeed. I've
found that Activity Theory seems to offer a promising starting point to
study how computer systems mediate human practices and penetrate into them,
and I have tried to develope an AT point of view when working and
publishing in related areas, like in IS, human-computer interaction (HCI),
CSCW, and computer- supported learning.
I did start my winding engineer's journey into secrets of human and social
issues by attempting to use Leontjev's ideas in HCI research more than ten
years ago. Since then I've been heavily infuenced by the "Finnish variant"
of AT, developed by Y. Engestrom and his co-workers.