Despite a decades long efforts no integrating theoretical framework for design research has appeared, and a need for such one still exist. The paper suggests, that it might be beneficial to start by delineating the object of research, because for example distinction between disciplines are based on the difference of their objects. The paper suggests, that the cultural-historical activity theory...

This paper presents a conceptual model for scholarly research activity, developed as part of the conceptual modelling work within the “Preparing DARIAH” European e-Infrastructures project. It is inspired by cultural-historical activity theory, and is expressed in terms of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, extending its notion of activity so as to also account, apart from historical practice...

This article makes a number of interconnected arguments. First, spatially and temporally distributed project teams constitute a new form of interprofessional work and, as a corollary, a new site for interprofessional learning. Second, researchers in cultural-historical activity theory have generated some concepts and methods, for example, “placeless organisations” (Nardi); “object of activity” ...

Current research and practice in early years pays special attention to education using play. However, the prospects for play application remain largely unclear. Starting from works of Lev Vygotsky his followers (D.Elkonin, A.Leontiev) an activity-based approach was elaborated. The development cultural-historical theory continued Elena Smirnova Kravtsova others. proposed consider context zone pr...

Current modeling approaches in the field of learning and work resemble the notion of workflows and hence fall short in describing the situated and socially mediated nature of practices. Against this background the paper describes an alternative modeling approach as well as its theoretical foundation and practical implications. As this paper rethinks the epistemological foundation of modeling so...

The aim of this paper is to describe sources of conflict and congruence in critical areas of practice with caregivers of persons with dementia, using cultural-historical activity theory as an analytic framework. Findings are drawn from an ethnographic study that described the context of occupational therapists’ (OT’s) clinical reasoning in a funded, home-based environmental skillbuilding progra...

This paper investigates the use of ontologies in processes of collaborative learning and knowledge generation. The creation and use of ontologies is analysed from an activity theoretical perspective in order to understand processes of shared conceptualization as well as the role of ontologies in processes of change and transformation. Scenarios of ontology-based collaborative learning and knowl...

In the challenges faced by organisations in the area of knowledge management, there is clearly a role for information and communications technologies in supporting the exploitation of business knowledge. This paper proposes a model of knowledge processes, based on the concept of “activity”, i.e. what people do, as determined by the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory. The evolutionary developme...

This paper investigates the use of ontologies in processes of collaborative learning and knowledge generation. The creation and use of ontologies is analysed from an activity theoretical perspective in order to understand processes of shared conceptualization as well as the role of ontologies in processes of change and transformation. Scenarios of ontology-based collaborative learning and knowl...

In this paper, I want to explore how this claim relates to the concept of semiotic mediation in cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the writings of the Bakhtin circle and then to consider how the theoretical framework that these scholars provide can be brought to bear, first on early language development, and then on the activity of education. I shall argue that the development of ch...