The situated activity and/or the knowledge distributed socially

Abstract

T h e re is a ve ry important, historical controversy in the social sciences between, on the one hand, a pragmmatically, contextualized approach to action or activity, and, on the other, a normative, uncontextualized approach. This controversy is current because of the increasing importance of the sciences of communication, computation, artificial intelligence and so on, as well as the presence of automated, intelligent instruments. These devices have changed the relationships and interaction between instruments and individuals and also between individuals. Terminology associated with these divergent approachs has entered many fields: Situated Activity (Action) v. Simbolic System, (Uncontextualized Activity); Social Distributed Knowledge v. Attributed, Individualized Knowledge, New Artificial Intelligence v. Classical Artificial Intelligence (Expert System).