Introduction

The process that includes a sequence of actions to plan a trip by booking a flight ticket seems like a fairly simple task that does not require too much effort from a person who is conversant with using applications on a mobile or a web platform. As elementary as the task is, the cognitive science behind the process of executing the task is intriguing with multiple facets to be considered for the design of such an application.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the process of making an air travel trip from a theoretical perspective by taking advantage of two existing approaches — Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition.

Activity Theory

This theory was pioneered by Lev Vygotsky and Alexi Leont’ev which then received further contributions from many other researchers.

Activity Theory (AT) takes into consideration the different interactions performed on an object, referred to as artifacts, at varied instances of consciousness. This theory is influenced eclectically by a number of social sciences. It directs the context towards historical and cultural aspects shaping the use of an artifact, by putting forth a compelling argument that believes that analysis of actions performed on an artifact in the work environment provides better understanding and informs us designers to design technologies that aptly suit the way it is actually used.

AT takes an hierarchical approach that divides a task into a set of three different levels of understanding and performing the task. They are operations, actions and activities. [1]

Bottom Level — Operations

These are basic routinised actions that we perform that does not require too much conscious effort. These tasks become a part of our daily routine through continuous practice. Operations are driven by conditions that are required to complete the goal. For example, pulling out our phone out of pockets and unlocking the screen by typing our passkey.

Intermediate Level: Actions

The level consists of actions that require conscious understanding and planning. Actions are driven by the goals that are required to be accomplished. For example, unlocking the screen is the goal to be achieved.

Top Level: Activity

This level consists of a much broader understanding of the action by providing a context for the task that’s being performed. They are driven by motives. For example, checking the notification on the phone screen is the activity that’s to be accomplished, which is why we unlock the screen (actions) and enter our passkey (operations).

Let us delve deeper by understanding this theory by taking a practical example — a traveler’s journey of making a trip.

Example — Analysing a traveler’s journey through the lens of Activity Theory.

A person needs to complete a set of tasks in order to plan and complete a journey. The tasks can divided into two high level activities -

1. Planning and booking the flight tickets

• This higher level activity has an action associated — which is deciding the travel dates and the mode of booking the flight tickets.
• For the above mentioned action, there are a number of operations involved -
• Selecting the destination location
• Selecting the date/time of departure and arrival
• Selecting the flight to be taken
• Selecting flight seats
• Selecting food preferences during the flight
• Opting for a pickup at the destination

2. Making the travel

• This activity is the process of actually making the trip, and has an action of consciously planning the modes of transport to get to the flight and reach the destination.
• For the above mentioned action, there are a number of operations involved -
• Traveling to the airport
• Collecting boarding pass
• Taking the flight
• Travel further to the desired location at the destination

For the sake of brevity, we will explore only the first high level activity — Planning and booking the flight tickets — analysing in terms of AT.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the motive of the process is planning the trip and booking flight tickets for the same, which is the Activity; the conscious effort of deciding the itinerary, and the means of booking the flight travel with the goal of arranging the travel is the Action; the subtasks to be performed to execute the goal are bound by certain conditions (selecting the date/time, destination, flight seats from the dropdown menu etc) are the Operations.

Artifacts in Use:

For the complete understanding process of planning a travel, and to design a product that would assist people in achieving this in a simpler and organised manner, AT explains that the artifacts involved (the phone application to book flight tickets in this case) should be observed in use. AT also goes on to say the history of use of the artifacts matter and it helps use shape the future versions by lucidly understanding the previous experiences.

Distributed Cognition

Distributed Cognition is a concept introduced in the field of Human-Computer Interaction by Hollan & Hutchins. “The theory of distributed cognition, like any cognitive theory, seeks to understand the organisation of cognitive systems.” [2]. One might argue this is what all theories pertaining to human cognition try to achieve. Traditional systems that model cognitive processing only try explaining how an individual memory works without taking into consideration the physical environment. Distributed Cognition encompasses not only factors internal to the human brain of an individual but also tries explaining a framework that entails multiple cognitive systems that interact with each other also taking into consideration the environmental influences.

This theory considers how information is transferred from one medium to another, be it human to human or human to a system. It binds artifacts that assist in completion of a task into the cognitive system, thereby extending the boundary of the system. Offloading of effort to the environment for accomplishing tasks in an easier manner is also taken into account in this theory. Breakdowns, inefficiencies, trouble points in a system can be explained by analysing work practices.

There are multiple factors which need to be considered for analysing a system in terms of Distributed Cognition such as:

• Work Practices
• Routines
• Procedures
• Work Arounds etc

These are not the only definitive factors which are to be considered and there isn’t a single way of doing a distributed cognition analysis [3].

For example, storing a person’s multiple contact information in a mobile phone, which is explained in terms of Distributed Cognition below:

Save the person’s mobile number

• Here we have offloaded the contact information to the system (the phone), where the mobile storage remembers the number for us. We need not remember the details, but all we need to do is find the contact from the list for future use.

Save multiple information such as email ID, fax number

• This shows the capability of the system to remember multiple numbers of the same contact. We can efficiently maintain an address book that encompasses various numbers, email IDs, and other information we would like to store about the contact.

Press the dial button to establish a connection

• We have now transferred information through a system to system communication, where by dialling the person’s phone, you have transferred your contact information to the other phone by establishing a networking connection between the two phones. This is an example of information flow by understanding the efficiencies and capabilities of the system. To make use of this workaround to exchange numbers, one should be aware of the capabilities of the system.

The same example of a traveler planning a trip shall be used to explain Distributed Cognition in detail.

Example — Analysing a traveler’s journey through the lens of Distributed Cognition.

Let us assume the sequential planning of the trip is divided into a two simple steps:

Planning the itinerary

A person wanting to plan a trip needs to schedule their journey to prepare the itinerary. This can be done through mediating artifacts such as a physical calendar or by using the calendar on the phone. Here, the interaction with the physical artifact — the calendar — to schedule the trip is a means to offload the task of remembering the dates to a system. Once information has been stored, the system can in turn remind you about the trip on the day of travel.

Booking Flight Tickets

Let us assume the flight tickets are booked using a phone application. Here, the application assists the user by providing a virtual calendar that can store the date of departure and arrival. The information about travel is now shared with the system, where a human to system interaction takes place.

Taking the example of ‘Google Flights’ (Figure 2 [4]), a new system that displays the different flights to a destination, helps users easily compare different flights and their costs.

The above system also shows the total time of flight, the number of stops and if WiFi is available on the flight. These are indications of various factors that help users to make a decision about which flight to take. The system shares the load of cognition and thereby making it a distributed cognitive system.

References

[1] [3] Rogers, HCI Theory, “Chapter 5 — Modern Theories”

[2] Hollan & Hutchins & Kirsh, “Distributed Cognition, Toward a New Foundation for Human-Computer Interaction Research”

[4] Image Source: Google Flights. URL: https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=IND;t=SFO;d=2014-11-16;r=2014-11-20