Human Activity and Human-Computer Interaction
Susanne Bødker · 2021
Throughout recent years, the use of computers has shifted from calculation or information processing to a wider variety of applications, and the direct contact between the human and the computer becomes more and more advanced. This chapter gives a short presentation or interpretation of the relevant part of the human activity theory. The presentation is primarily based on the work of Leontjew, Hyd6n, and Karpatschof. The operational aspects of actions are implemented through a series of operations. Each operation corresponds to the concrete material conditions for implementation of the actions, and it is triggered by the appearance of those specific concrete material conditions. Conceptualization can take place in breakdown situations, situations in which some unarticulated conflict occurs between the assumed conditions for the operations on the one hand, and the actual conditions on the other, between the human reflection of the material conditions, and the actual conditions.