The document discusses four key themes of activity theory: 1. Instrumental and semiotic layers of mediation in activity including talk, text, pictures, gestures, sounds, tools, and signs. 2. Contradictions and history making through re-mediation, double stimulation, and agency. 3. A transcript is provided as an example of instrumentalities in activity between two workers. 4. The harmonica model is referenced as representing the different layers of activity.

1. LANGUAGE AND ACTIVITY MINI-COURSE Yrjö Engeström University of Helsinki Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research

3. BODY AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS LANGUAGE: TALK AND TEXT

4. BODY AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS LANGUAGE: TALK AND TEXT PICTURES, VISUAL IMAGES GESTURES, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS RHYTHMS AND SOUNDS Subject Object Outcome sense, meaning Rules Community Division of labor Instruments: tools and signs Production Exchange Distribution Consumption ACTIVITY IS A HARMONICA

5. 01(08:22) Pekka Give it through the other side. 02(10:01) Antti I have to turn the other way, I must turn. 03(31:05) Antti How is the length? 04(32:02) Pekka This is too long. 05(33:05) Antti By how much? 06(35:13) Pekka Half a centimeter. 07(36:16) Antti No more than that? 08(37:20) Pekka Not now, but then there is that, the hole is in its place. 09(41:20) Antti The hole is in its place? 10(42:09) Pekka Yes, but it is too long. It should be sawed off in this end. 11(44:17) Antti Yes, I’ll take it. 12(65:21) Pekka Nail side the other way... 13(68:11) Antti What? 14(69:14) Pekka The other way the nail side. 15(102:05) Antti Wait, I’ll put this end first. 16(103:23) Pekka Yes. 17(105:24) Antti Well? 18(106:13) Pekka Yes! 19(109:02) Antti Did it go now? 20(109:17) Pekka Yes, it did! 21(110:06) Antti Now let’s hit nails. 22(136:07) Antti That was it. TRANSCRIPT THE LENGTH OF THE ENTIRE EPISODE IS 2 MINUTES AND 26 SECONDS

6. [IN THE FOLLOWING, PEKKA ASKS ANTTI TO PUSH A PLANK UNDERNEATH THE HOUSE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PILLAR BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT TO GO INTO THE WRONG SIDE. ANTTI STATES THAT HE MUST HIMSELF FIRST CHANGE THE SIDE IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO PUSH THE PLANK INTO THE CORRECT SIDE. THIS IS THE DISTURBANCE no. 1.] 01(08:22) Pekka Give it through the other side. 02(10:01) Antti I have to turn the other way, I must turn. [IN THE FOLLOWING THE TRANSCRIPT EXPLAINS ITSELF. THIS IS THE DISTURBANCE no. 2.] 03(31:05) Antti How is the length? 04(32:02) Pekka This is too long. 05(33:05) Antti By how much? 06(35:13) Pekka Half a centimeter. 07(36:16) Antti No more than that? 08(37:20) Pekka Not now, but then there is that, the hole is in its place. 09(41:20) Antti The hole is in its place? 10(42:09) Pekka Yes, but it is too long. It should be sawed off in this end. 11(44:17) Antti Yes, I’ll take it. [IN THE FOLLOWING, PEKKA INDICATES THAT WHEN A PLANK IS PUSHED INTO ITS PLACE UNDERNEATH THE HOUSE WITH THE NAILS STICKING OUT ON THE DOWNSIDE, THE LONG NAILS SCRAPE THE DIRT AND MAY GET STUCK IN THE DIRT – THAT’S WHY THE PLANK SHOULD BE PUSHED INTO ITS PLACE THE NAILS STICKING OUT ON THE UPSIDE, AND BE TURNED AROUND FOR HAMMERING ONLY WHEN IT IS IN ITS PLACE. ANTTI ACTS ACCORDINGLY AND PUSHES THE PLANK INTO ITS PLACE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN COMPARED TO THE FIRST ATTEMPT. ANTTI’S ACTION IS THE ONLY - BUT SUFFICIENT – CONFIRMATION FOR PEKKA THAT ANTTI HAS INDEED HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD PEKKA’S UTTERANCE. THIS IS THE DISTURBANCE no. 3.] 12(65:21) Pekka Nail side the other way... 13(68:11) Antti What? 14(69:14) Pekka The other way the nail side. CONSTRUCTION ACTIONS TRANSCRIPT THE LENGTH OF THE ENTIRE EPISODE IS 2 MINUTES AND 26 SECONDS

8. Speaker A ObjectA (incl. possible previous utterances) Instruments: Words, gestures, etc. OutcomeA: Voiced utterance ObjectB: Previous utterance Speaker B Instruments: Words, gestures etc. Contextualization: Appropriated utterance OutcomeB: Voiced utterance Community: Speaker’s social language Rules: Speech genres Division of labor: Interlocutors Division of labor: Interlocutors Community: Speaker’s social language Rules: Speech genres To understand an action, we need to look at it together with its consequences, namely the ways in which the recipients of the action appropriate and contextualize the action. Action is thus seen as an issue of responsibility and accountability. Note that there may be many interlocutors/inter-actors rather than just one like in the figure above. Sequences of inter-action are seen as spiral- or network-like formations rather than linear strings - they are textures or intersecting trails. What are the different actions of contextualization --both external and internal? They include at least actions directed inward (one’s own memories, experiences, feelings), actions directed outward (objects and people in the environment), and actions directed toward assumed commond ground of shared (internalized) cultural resources such as concepts, myths, etc. What are the layers of activity -- the harmonica model! They are modes or modalities, such as talk/text, body and physical instruments, rhythm and sound, gesture, picturing, etc. CONSEQUENTIALITY OF TALK AND ACTION: TOWARD A NEW UNIT OF ANALYSIS OF INTERACTION

9. THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF COLLABORATIVE CARE Yrjö Engeström University of California, San Diego, and University of Helsinki Ritva Engeström University of Helsinki Hannele Kerosuo University of Helsinki Applied Linguistics, 24/3, 286-315 (2003)

14. Figure 2. Succession and numbers of turns of discourse types in the two meetings

16. Co-narrating X Making joint decisions X Modeling X X Gaining a voice X X Articulation Cross-appropriation Reconfiguration

20. *The excerpt demonstrates how modeling began to approach and resemble making joint decisions. In other words, the participants were working on a future-oriented model (turn 231: “this is at an early stage”), yet they were also working out a here-and-now decision (turn 226: “I could include an attachment”). *What was future-oriented and configurative about this decision was that the participants agreed that not only would the new documents (care agreement, care map, care calendar) be attached to the referrals of this patient – they would also be introduced by a short note that explains to the receiving specialist what these new documents are all about. Such an introductory note was to have a standard text (a general template ), signed by the respective managing physicians of the primary care and the hospital. Yet, this general note was to be prepared quickly, so that this particular physician would use it in the particular referrals for this particular patient. *It seems that to overcome the gap between action and imagination in history-making, it may be necessary to bring them closer to one another and occasionally merge articulative decision-making and configurative modeling, the particular and the general.

22. CONTRADICTIONS, DOUBLE STIMULATION AND INSTRUMENTALITY

23. BACK TO THE CONSTRUCTION SITE...

24. Contradictions in the activity system of Antti, the carpenter Subject: CARPENTER vs. FATHER Object: BIG CONSTRUCTION PROJECT ALONG WITH DAY JOB Outcome sense, meaning Rules: STAY HOME WITH FAMILY Community Division of labor Instruments: tools and signs Source: Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit. (available online at: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Paper/Engestrom/expanding/toc.htm) Production Exchange Distribution Consumption

25. Contradictions in the activity system of Antti, the carpenter Subject: CARPENTER vs. FATHER Object: BIG CONSTRUCTION PROJECT ALONG WITH DAY JOB Outcome: PROJECT TERMINATED sense, meaning Rules: STAY HOME WITH FAMILY Community Division of labor: ATTEMPT TO BRING IN ASSISTANT PEKKA Instruments: tools and signs Source: Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit. (available online at: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Paper/Engestrom/expanding/toc.htm) Production Exchange Distribution Consumption

26. Two Interacting activity systems Subject Rules Community Division of labor Instruments Subject Rules Community Instruments Division of labor Potentially shared object Source: Engeström, Y. (2001) Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work, 14, 133-156.

27. FROM CONTRADICTIONS TO EXPANSION BY MEANS OF DOUBLE STIMULATION

28. THE LEWIN EXPERIMENT “ In experiments involving meaningless situations, Lewin found that the subject searches for some point of support that is external to him and that he defines his own behavior through this external support. In one set of experiments, for example, the experimenter left the subject and did not return, but observed him from a separate room. Generally, the subject waited for 10-20 minutes. Then, not understanding what he should do, he remained in a state of oscillation, confusion and indecisiveness for some time. Nearly all the adults searched for some external point of support. For example, one subject defined his actions in terms of the striking of the clock. Looking at the clock, he thought: ‘When the hand moves to the vertical position, I will leave.’ The subject transformed the situation in this way, establishing that he would wait until 2:30 and then leave. When the time came, the action occurred automatically.” (Vygotsky, 1987a, p. 356)

30. FIRST STIMULUS: AMBIGUOUS SITUATION; TO STAY OR TO LEAVE SECOND STIMULUS: THE HANDS OF THE WATCH DOUBLE STIMULATION IN THE LEWIN EXPERIMENT

31. “ The person, using the power of things or stimuli, controls his own behavior through them, grouping them, putting them together, sorting them. In other words, the great uniqueness of the will consists of man having no power over his own behavior other than the power that things have over his behavior. But man subjects to himself the power of things over behavior, makes them serve his own purposes and controls that power as he wants. He changes the environment with the external activity and in this way affects his own behavior, subjecting it to his own authority.” (Vygotsky, 1997, p. 212) DOUBLE STIMULATION AS MECHANISM OF EXPANSION

33. “ By using this approach, we do not limit ourselves to the usual method of offering the subject simple stimuli to which we expect a direct response. Rather, we simultaneously offer a second series of stimuli that have a special function. In this way, we are able to study the process of accomplishing a task by the aid of specific auxiliary means; thus we are also able to discover the inner structure and development of higher psychological processes. The method of double stimulation elicits manifestations of the crucial processes in the behavior of people of all ages. Tying a knot as a reminder, in both children and adults, is but one example of a pervasive regulatory principle of human behavior, that of signification, wherein people create temporary links and give significance to previously neutral stimuli in the context of their problem-solving efforts. We regard our method as important because it helps to objectify inner psychological processes…” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 74-75)

34. CHANGE LABORATORY IN A HOSPITAL,2001 CHANGE LABORATORY IN DIFFERENT WORK SITES SINCE 1995

35. CHANGE LABORATORY SESSION IN A HEALTH CARE SETTING Models, visions Ideas, solutions, tools Mirror; everyday troubles

36. PROTOTYPICAL LAYOUT OF THE CHANGE LABORATORY SPACE

37. CHARTING THE SITUATION: Something must be done; committment to change ANALYZING THE SITUATION: How did we work in the past (history)? What are our present troubles and contradictions? CREATING A NEW MODEL: How do we want to work in the year 2010? CONCRETIZING AND TESTING THE NEW MODEL: What changes do we want to try next month? IMPLEMENTING THE NEW MODEL: Putting into practice the first steps Pushing for the next steps SPREADING AND CONSOLIDATING: Teaching others what we learned Codifying the new rules, etc.

38. INTERVENTION IN THE JAKOMÄKI MIDDLE SCHOOL

40. WHAT? IMAGES, PROTOTYPES, RECOGNITION DEVICES, DECLARATION DEVICES, LISTS WHO, WHAT, WHEN? STORIES, NARRATIVES IN WHICH LOCATION? CLASSIFICATIONS, CATALOGUES, REPOSITORIES HOW, IN WHICH ORDER? ALGORITHMS, SCRIPTS, HEURISTIC RULES WHY? SYSTEMS MODELS WHERE TO? GERM CELL MODELS EPISTEMIC LAYERS OF INSTRUMENTALITY