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Title:
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ACTIVITY THEORY AS A FRAMEWORK FOR CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY: A CASE STUDY |
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Author(s):
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Jorn De Boever , Dirk De Grooff |
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ISBN:
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978-972-8924-85-0 |
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Editors:
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Katherine Blashki |
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Year:
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2009 |
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Edition:
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Single |
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Keywords:
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Activity theory, fieldwork, contextual inquiry, P2P networks |
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Type:
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Full Paper |
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First Page:
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78 |
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Last Page:
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86 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload 
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Paper Abstract:
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It is widely recognized in HCI research that the target users of an application are best understood by studying these users
in their real life context. However, it is strange that the results of these user studies generally lack any theoretical
foundation to structure and comprehend the findings. Therefore, this paper presents activity theory (AT) as a theoretical
framework for contextual inquiry. AT stresses the influence of the meaningful context on usersÂ’ acts, the different levels
of motivations that guide usersÂ’ behavior and the mediation of different kinds of artifacts. The usefulness of the concepts,
provided by AT, is being demonstrated by a contextual inquiry of the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks (e.g. Limewire,
Soulseek, Azureus). This case study reveals the richness of data that can be gathered, structured and comprehended via
AT. The paper concludes that AT is a mature, comprehensive framework to collect and understand relevant data about
users in their real meaningful contexts. |
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