> ISCAR News
>
> International Society for Cultural and Activity Research
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>Vol. 2, No. 1 March 2004
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>REPORTS
>
>1. Report on The Finnish National Congress on Activity Theory
> and Sociocultural Approach
>
>
>ISCAR NEWS
>
>2. First ISCAR Congress, 20-24 September 2005, Sevilla
>
>3. 3rd Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research,
> 3-5 September 2004, Copenhagen
>
>4. ISCAR Regional Conference, "Application of Activity Theory
> to Education, Information Systems and Business", 12-13 July 2004,
> University of Wollongong, Australia
>
>
>ANNOUNCEMENTS
>
>5. Call for Participation: AT IT 2004: First International
> Workshop on Activity Theory Based Practical Methods for IT
> Design, 2-3 September 2004, Copenhagen
>
>6. Vygotsky Summer Courses/Seminars, 1 - 21 August, 2004, Moscow
>
>
>PUBLICATIONS
>
>7. New Books from ISCAR members
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>You are welcome to submit news items to: news@iscar.org
>Send email and postal address changes to: new-address@iscar.org
>Copies of previous newsletters available from: news@iscar.org
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>
>REPORTS
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>1. Report on The Finnish National Congress on Activity Theory
> and Sociocultural Approach
>
>Activity 03 - the first Finnish national congress on Activity
>Theory and Sociocultural Research was held 1.-2. December, 2003
>in Kauniainen, near Helsinki. The theme of the congress was: New
>forms of cultural mediation - technologies, communities,
>languages. The idea for a Congress was inspired by Jaakko
>Virkkunen from the ISCAR Executive Committee, and organized by
>the Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research,
>together with seven other research units or university
>departments.
>
>Altogether some 130 persons attended - some of them well
>acquainted with activity theory and the sociocultural approach,
>some interested to get to know it. Altogether 61 papers were
>accepted and presented. Abstracts in Finnish are available from
>the Finnish section of the ISCAR website:
>http://www.iscar.org/fi/Abstraktikirja.pdf
>It was nice to see that new groups of researchers were interested
>in the approach.
>
>Professor Michael Cole from San Diego and Professor Georg
>Rückriem from Berlin gave keynote speeches. Mike Cole spoke about
>mediation and human development, covering historical development
>from very primitive mediational artefacts to new collective
>psychological tools in digital networks. The talk (3Mb) is
>available at: http://www.iscar.org/fi/cole.pdf
>
>Georg Rückriem's theme was: Tool or Medium? The Meaning of
>Information and Telecommunication Technologies to Human Practice.
>A Quest or a Systemic Understanding of Activity. He questioned
>the view of computer as a new tool and called for a deeper
>analysis of the relation between tool and medium, which, in his view,
>requires a broad systemic view of the current changes of
>society. New 'leading media' like internet do not only change
>specific concrete activities but revolutionize the societal
>activity structure as a whole as well as the relations between
>activity and consciousness. The talk is available at:
>http://www.iscar.org/fi/ruckriem.pdf
>
>Papers presented at the conference were divided into four
>parallel streams:
> - Theories and methodologies of cultural mediation
> - Tools and technologies
> - Communities, organizations and networks
> - Languages, interaction and dialogue.
>
>Those who presented a paper had to choose, which aspect of
>mediation they wanted to highlight in their study. Applying
>activity theory or Vygotskian approach was not a criterion of
>accepting papers. Rather the idea was to have discussions between
>various approaches and empirical research objects. This was also
>realized, and despite the rather great heterogeneity of research
>topics and approaches, interesting discussions and insights
>emerged.
>
>It is interesting to note, that for the activity theory and
>sociocultural tradition relatively new research areas such as
>organization studies, computer science, philosophy, and
>technology studies were strongly represented.
>
>Participants agreed that there is a need for a forum for activity
>theoretical and sociocultural studies for Finnish speaking
>audience, too. So it was decided to continue and the next
>conference will be held in Helsinki in 2005. A book of major
>conference presentations will be published in Finnish language.
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>ISCAR NEWS
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>
> 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ISCAR
>
> "ACTING IN CHANGING WORLDS: LEARNING, COMMUNICATION,
> AND MINDS IN INTERCULTURAL ACTIVITIES"
> 20-24 September, 2005
>
>In September 2005, the First International Congress of ISCAR will
>be held in Seville, Spain. The Local Organizing Committee would
>like to invite all those interested in theory and research in
>culture and activity to attend the Congress.
>
>A key objective in sociocultural research is to analyse the
>mediational instruments that emerge and develop in
>(inter)cultural activities, with particular emphasis on those
>arising out of the new forms of communication (related to
>information technology and communications). Therefore, the main
>focus of interest in this first ISCAR congress will, in broad
>terms, be the acting subject. By this, we mean a subject who
>participates in sociocultural activities and is responsible for
>his/her acts in these activities, capable of acting and creating
>worlds.
>
>The discussions of the congress will be thematically related as
>much as possible, organised around two main themes, with each
>main theme having a list of associated subthemes.
>
> A) Theoretical and Methodological Issues
> - New trends in Cultural-Historical theory and research
> - Cognition in social practices
> - Diversity and heterogeneity of mind
> - Emotion and subjectivity in culture
> - Self, identity, and culture
> - Semiotic mediation and meaning construction
> - Narrative construction of self
> - Methodological challenges in cultural and social research
> - Theoretical and methodological problems in Activity Theory
> - Qualitative research and social practice
> - Problems of the unit of analysis
>
> B) Acting in changing worlds
> - Socialization, interaction, and human development
> - Ways of discourse, modes of thinking and forms of participation
> - Learning and knowledge construction in social practice
> - School practices, interaction, and discourse
> - Argumentation, negotiation, and intercultural communication
> - Literacy in changing worlds
> - Citizenship in changing world
> - Doing gender in changing world
> - Lifelong learning in changing worlds
> - New technologies, communication, and identity
> - Working place and new technologies
> - New ways of teaching-learning and technology
> - Sociocultural approaches to therapy practices
> - Intervention programs in institutions (design and assessment)
>
>Call for Proposals
>
>The program committee invites researchers to send proposals that
>correspond to one of the congress themes. A proposal can be
>submitted for:
>
> - a paper that corresponds to one of the congress themes or subthemes.
> - a poster that corresponds to one of the (sub) themes of the congress.
> - a symposium that corresponds to one of the (sub) themes of the
> congress.
>
>All papers will be organised in symposium sessions.
>
>Proposals must be submitted by e-mail and sent to: iscar2005@iscar.org
>
>More detailed information about the congress will be provided in
>the second announcement, which will be issued by April, 2004, as
>well as on the website: http://www.us.es/glabahum/ISCAR2005/
>
>We hope to see you here in Seville.
>
>President of Honour of the Congress: Jerome S. Bruner
>
>President of Local Committee: Juan Daniel Ramírez Garrido, Universidad de
>Sevilla
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>3. 3rd Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research
>
>The Third Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research
>will be held in Copenhagen on September 3-5, 2004. The
>conference builds on the success of the previous two conferences
>(Helsinki, 1997; Ronneby, 2001), which have provided a forum for
>exchanging ideas, experiences, and opinions and the exploration
>of common interests, problems, and possibilities for cooperation
>among researchers and practitioners in Nordic countries. The
>Nordic countries have a strong tradition of theoretical and
>practical work based on activity theory and cultural-historical
>psychology in areas, such as education, transformations of work
>and organizations, human-computer interaction, and so forth. The
>conference aspires to bring together researchers from the Nordic
>countries who work within these approaches or who are interested
>in extending their conceptual frameworks by relating them to
>activity theory and cultural-historical research.
>
>More information at: http://www.iscar.org/dk/3NC/
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>4. ISCAR Regional Conference, "Application of Activity Theory
> to Education, Information Systems and Business", 12-13 July 2004,
> University of Wollongong, Australia,
>
>
>This regional conference is an expansion of a conference that has been held
>several times previously at the University of Wollongong.
>
>The conference aspires to bring together researchers from Australia,
>New Zealand, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region who are interested in the
>application of socio-cultural and activity theory to their theoretical and
>empirical work, and to encourage discussion, communication and cooperation
>between researchers in the multidisciplinary field of socio-cultural research.
>
>The conference is hosted by The Faculty of Education and The School of
>Economics
>and Information Systems, and will be held at the University of Wollongong.
>
>Abstracts, not exceeding 300 words must be submitted by: 22 March, 2004.
>
>For more information: Professor Helen Hasan <hasan@uow.edu.au>
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>ANNOUNCEMENTS
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>5. Call for Participation: AT IT 2004: First International Workshop
>on Activity Theory Based Practical Methods for IT Design, 2-3 September 2004,
>Copenhagen
>
>Based on the long list of successful applications of the activity
>theory framework within the IT-design communities (software, IS,
>HCI, CSCW, PD), we believe it is time to extract a collection of
>methods. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss and refine
>methods for IT design based on activity theory. The workshop is
>open to participants who are accepted on the basis of their
>submission of a practical AT based method or technique for
>IT-design.
>
>Submissions should be composed of two parts. The first part is a
>description of the method or technique itself, in a format that
>would be suitable for a textbook for practitioners. The second
>part is a short paper, reflecting the method, how it is based on
>activity theory, its history, how it has been used in practice
>etc. After the workshop, we will make an edited collection based
>on the workshop contributions. Deadline for submissions is 30
>April 2004.
>
>More information available at:
>
>http://www.daimi.au.dk/~olavb/atit2004/
>
>Organizers: Olav W. Bertelsen, Mikko Korpela, and Anja Mursu
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>6. Vygotsky Summer Courses/Seminars, 1 - 21 August, 2004, Moscow
>
>Applications are welcomed from all graduate students with good
>academic standing at any college or university. While students in
>any field are eligible, the program is geared mainly for graduate
>students in education and psychology. The program will be taught
>entirely in English. No knowledge of Russian language is
>required. Postgraduate students and faculty are welcome to join
>and share your ideas and research findings.
>
>The joint team of American-Russian instructors will use an
>"active engagement" approach that will take participants into
>different cities and provide them with the opportunity to talk
>directly with Vygotskian scholars, university professors,
>government officials, school teachers, parents from different
>walks of life, and students. The opportunity to directly observe
>teacher-student interactions in Russian schools is an important
>part of the program. Besides participating in classroom
>instruction, the students will meet a number of prominent
>Vygotsky scholars, visit the Russian State University for the
>Humanities in Moscow, the Vygotsky Institute, public and private
>schools, and homes. They will observe class instruction,
>out-of-school activities, and educational research activities in
>Russian universities and schools.
>
>All necessary information about costs, instructors, schedules,
>cultural programs, how to apply, and so on, can be found on the
>following website:
>
>http://inted.oie.buffalo.edu/studyabroad/program.asp?prog=russia&file=pro&img=pro_russia.jpg
>
>You can also try to contact Vladimir Ageyev <vageyev@acsu.buffalo.edu>
>State University of New York at Buffalo
>Telephone: +1 716 839 3559
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>PUBLICATIONS
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>7. New Books from ISCAR members
>
>Ein Diamant schleift den anderen: Eval'd Vasil'evic Il'enkov und
>die Tätigkeitstheorie
>
> Wolfgang Jantzen and Birger Siebert (Editors)
>
> Lehmanns Media, 2003, 463 pages, 35.00 Euro
> Order from: http://www.LOB.de, ISBN: 3-936427-66-6
>
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
>Akhutina, T. V., (2003). Psychology of speech and
> neuropsychology. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology.
> 41(3/4.) (A selection of articles by T. V. Akhutina)
>
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
>
>A.R. Luria and Contemporary Psychology: Festschrift Celebrating
> the Centennial of the Birth of Luria.
>
> T. Akhutina, J. Glozman, L. Moskovich, and D. Robbins
>
> Nova Science, Commack, NY, 2004
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
>
>Vygotsky's and A.A. Leontiev's Semiotics and Psycholinguistics:
> Applications for Education, Second Language Acquisition, and
> Theories of Language.
>
> Dorothy Robbins
>
> Praeger Publishers, 2003, 200 pages, $61.95 USD
> http://www.greenwood.com/books/bookdetail.asp?sku=GM2224
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>Production Editor: Seth Chaiklin
>
>ISCAR - Newsletter Editorial Team:
>Christoph Clases, Jan Derry, Gilberto Pérez Campos, Katsuhiro Yamazumi
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>News: news@iscar.org
>Webpage: http://www.iscar.org
>Queries: info@iscar.org
>
>If you do not want to receive the newsletter attached
>as a Word document, then send a message to: news@iscar.org
>
>
>
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