Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Business
Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay
Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
When Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was first propounded by the Vygotskian school of Russian psychologists in the 1920s it offered a robust explanation of how human development is mediated by cultural as well as biological influences. Along the way, CHAT has acquired some "bugs" or usability difficulties by remaining isolated from other theories that have a common heritage. This paper explores how the theory may have evolved if Vygotsky was alive today. Revisions to CHAT are proposed that borrow from complexity theory, innovation theory, group dynamics and Flow theory to explain the evolution of minds, tools and cultures as a …
Government Business Process Analysis With Activity Theory, Peter A. J Larkin
Government Business Process Analysis With Activity Theory, Peter A. J Larkin
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
Activity Theory tells us that a motivated person or group performs an activity directed at an object in order to transform the object into desired outcomes to fulfil a need. It also tells us that instruments and the community mediate human activity. The New South Wales state parliament in Australia performs the activity of creating Acts and those Acts prescribe within them the objects of the Act and the desired outcomes. To achieve the desired outcomes, the Act will establish or constitute the necessary instruments. This paper describes an application of Yrjo Engestrom's Activity Theory model, or structure of human …
Website Usability In Context: An Activity Theory Based Usability Testing Method, Lejla Vrazalic
Website Usability In Context: An Activity Theory Based Usability Testing Method, Lejla Vrazalic
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
Traditional laboratory based usability testing methodologies are plagued with shortcomings which affect the results of the testing process and their validity. The results of a preliminary study of this type of usability testing with 34 users indicate two categories of key shortcomings. A new summative website usability testing methodology based on the notion of distributed usability and Activity Theory is presented as a means of overcoming these problems. This paper describes the theoretical foundations and development of the methodology which is currently being evaluated and refined.