An activity theory approach to intuitiveness: From artefact to process

Abstract

Intuition is a widely employed term when describing or evaluating user interfaces in an HCI context. It is used in by most people in their daily life, regardless of technology use; it is applied by users in various socio-technical contexts; it is even utilized by developers themselves. While Susanne Bødker and others brought activity theory into the HCI discourse, in much of the literature, intuition has largely remained within the cognitive science discourse. In an activity theoretical approach, this paper attempts to connect intuitiveness to activity and pointing out the changing perception of the concept of intuitiveness in relation to skill levels; changing from being connected primarily to artifacts at an unskilled level, to being linked exclusively to tasks and processes at expert level.