Editing Activity theory (section)

==Information systems==
The application of activity theory to information systems derives from the work of Bonnie Nardi and [[Kari Kuutti]]. Kuutti's work is addressed below. Nardi's approach is, briefly, as follows: Nardi (p.&nbsp;6) described activity theory as "...a powerful and clarifying descriptive tool rather than a strongly predictive theory. The object of activity theory is to understand the unity of consciousness and activity...Activity theorists argue that consciousness is not a set of discrete disembodied cognitive acts (decision making, classification, remembering), and certainly it is not the brain; rather, consciousness is located in everyday practice: you are what you do."<ref name="Nardi, B. A. 1996 pp. 1-8">Nardi, B. A. (1996). Activity theory and human computer interaction In B. A. Nardi (Ed.), Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 1–8). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.</ref>  Nardi (p.&nbsp;5) also argued that "activity theory proposes a strong notion of ''mediation''—all human experience is shaped by the tools and sign systems we use."<ref name="Nardi, B. A. 1996 pp. 1-8"/> Nardi (p.&nbsp;6) explained that "a basic tenet of activity theory is that a notion of consciousness is central to a depiction of activity. Vygotsky described consciousness as a phenomenon that unifies attention, intention, memory, reasoning, and speech..."<ref name="Nardi, B. A. 1996 pp. 1-8"/> and (p.&nbsp;7) "Activity theory, with its emphasis on the importance of motive and consciousness—which belongs only to humans—sees people and things as fundamentally different. People are not reduced to 'nodes' or 'agents' in a system; 'information processing' is not seen as something to be modelled in the same way for people and machines."<ref name="Nardi, B. A. 1996 pp. 1-8"/>

In a later work, Nardi et al. in comparing activity theory with cognitive science, argue that "activity theory is above all a social theory of consciousness" and therefore "... activity theory wants to define consciousness, that is, all the mental functioning including
remembering, deciding, classifying, generalising, abstracting and so forth, as a product of our social interactions with other people and of our use of tools."{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}} For Activity Theorists "consciousness" seems to refer to any mental functioning, whereas most other approaches to psychology distinguish conscious from unconscious functions.

Over the last 15 years the use and exploration of activity theory in information systems has grown.<ref>Ditsa, G. (2003). Activity theory as a theoretical foundation for information systems research Information management (pp. 192–231): IGI Publishing.</ref><ref>Chen, R., Sharman, R., Rao, H. R., & Upadhyaya, S. J. (2013). Data Model Development for Fire Related Extreme Events: An Activity Theory Approach. MIS Quarterly, in press.</ref> One stream of research has focused on technology mediated change and the implementation of technologies and how they disrupt, change and improve organisational work activity. In these studies, activity systems are used to understand emergent contradictions in the work activity, which are temporarily resolved using information systems (tools) and/or arising from the introduction of information systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Allen|first1 = David K.|last2 = Brown|first2 = Andrew|last3 = Karanasios|first3 = Stan |last4 = Norman|first4 = Alistair|date = 2013|title =How should technology-mediated organizational change be explained? A comparison of the contributions of critical realism and activity theory|journal =  MIS Quarterly |issue = 3|volume = 37 |pages = 835–854 |doi = 10.25300/MISQ/2013/37.3.08| s2cid=18859029 |url = http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/89625/3/si_cr_allenbrown.pdf}}</ref> Information science studies use a similar approach to activity theory in order to understand information behaviour "in context".<ref>Allen, D., Karanasios, S., & Slavova, M. (2011). Working with activity theory: Context, technology, and information behavior. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(4), 776–788. {{doi|10.1002/asi.21441}} http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.21441/abstract</ref><ref>Wilson, T. D. (2008). Activity theory and information seeking. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 42, 119–161  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aris.2008.1440420111/abstract</ref>

In the field of [[Information and communications technology]] (ICT) and development (a field of study within information systems), activity theory has also been used to inform development of IT systems <ref>Korpela, M., Mursu, A., & Soriyan, H. A. (2002). Information Systems Development as an Activity. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 11, 111–128.</ref> and to frame the study of ICT in development settings.<ref>Karanasios, S., & Allen, D. K. (2013). ICT and Development in the Context of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Closure. Information Systems Journal, 23(2). {{doi|10.1111/isj.12011}} http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/isj.12011/abstract</ref>

In addition, Etengoff & Daiute have conducted recent work exploring how social media interfaces can be productively used to mediate conflicts. Their work has illustrated this perspective with analyses of online interactions between gay men and their religious family members<ref>Etengoff, C. & Daiute, C. (2015). Online Coming Out Communications between Gay Men and their Religious Family Allies: A Family of Choice and Origin Perspective, Journal of GLBT Family Studies. {{doi|10.1080/1550428X.2014.964442}}</ref> and Sunni-Muslim emerging adults' efforts to maintain a positive ethnic identity via online religious forums in post 9/11 contexts.<ref>Etengoff, C. & Daiute, C., (2013). Sunni-Muslim American Religious Development during Emerging Adulthood, Journal of Adolescent Research, 28(6), 690–714. {{doi|10.1177/0743558413477197}}</ref>