Instrument mediated activity: from subject development to anthropocentric design

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the ‘instrument-mediated activity’ approach, which is part of a ‘generative model’. A group of principles liable to contribute to the epistemological unity of generative models is put forward as well as a theoretical framework that conceptualizes what an instrument is for the subject. The article develops the idea that the instrument is a mixed entity born of both the subject and the artifact. The artifact is not an instrument in itself. It is the subject who grants it the status of a means for his/her action. Processes of design in usage by users are defined as ‘instrumental geneses’. Finally, the consequences of this model on the organization of design processes are examined, in taking into account instrumental geneses as resources for design.