Computer-Mediated Activity: Functional Organs in Social and Developmental Contexts
Victor Kaptelinin · The MIT Press eBooks · 1995
The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) presents an enormous theoretical challenge to researchers trying to establish it as an integrated field of studies. To become such a field, HCI should be based on a conceptual scheme powerful enough to incorporate both human beings and computer technology within a coherent theoretical framework. One possible solution is based on the cognitive approach, according to which both human beings and computers can be considered as information processing units. 1 If the basic mechanisms underlying human cognition and those underlying the functioning of computer systems are essentially the same, it is possible to use the same concepts and methods to analyze both entities and eventually to build a general theory that explains the functioning of higher-level systems composed of both human beings and computers. Another broad approach, which is becoming more popular, is based on a radically different assumption. It assumes that what is needed to make HCI a conceptually integrated field is a theory that describes and explains the larger context of human interaction with computers. This second approach employs another feature human beings and computers have in common: both are involved in real-life activities of computer use. If we can provide an account of the general context of computer use and identify the place of human beings and computers within this overarching scheme, we can understand interaction