Knowledge Work as Collaborative Work: A Situated Activity Theory View

The paper proposes a Situated Activity Theory view of collaborative knowledge work. Activity Theory is argued to be particularly relevant in the context knowledge work since the body of knowledge is a historically accumulated social construction. Situated Activity Theory makes a distinction between activity, tasks and encounters, the first two following the traditional distinction between activity and action in Activity Theory. Encounters are incorporated to model explicitly the temporal organisation of work. Referring to the high variety of knowledge work, Situated Activity Theory suggests an instansiation process in which an activity is instansiated into an action working on a single object of work. The culturally developed activity system is seen to serve as a significant resource and constraint in the process. Influenced by the ideas of situated action the instansiation process is viewed as continuous process that takes place in a close concert with the action as it unfolds.