Designing for instrument-mediated activity

Abstract

The need to design information processing systems based on an anthropocentric approach, i.e., one where the design of technical objects deliberately draws from and is geared to the user’s activity, is a critical issue in the modernization of life and work environments. Within this framework, we propose a developmental approach to instruments in which they are not just understood as fabricated material objects but are also psychological and social entities. We present a model and propose ways of approaching the design of information processing systems.