REEXAMINATION OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH T O THE MAN-COMPUTER DIALOG IN TERMS OF THE ACTIVITY THEORY

The leading approach to the man-computer dialogue is the cognitive one , but its methodological background and practical value are still deba table. The present paper deals with an alternative approach based on t he activity theory, that gives an opportunity to study material aspect s of human activity as well as its historical context. The conceptual model and the technique are presented, which are to outline a possible way to interprete real work situations and to avoid any reducing of t hese situations to <<narrow>> laboratory experiments. A detailed analy sis of the concrete computer tool utilization is presented as an examp le of the technique application.