Activity as Formation of Concept (book, v1, 2024)

Engaging with Andy Blunden’s Approach to Activity Theory

Last week, I worked on developing a personal learning plan for the first fellow of Activity Analysis Center. The fellow wants to explore cross-communication and cultural concepts. I recommend Andy Blunden’s approach to Activity Theory, especially the notion of “Activity as Formation of Concept”.

I selected several articles from my books (drafts) and edited them into several sections.

• The Background of Activity Theory
• Project-oriented Activity Theory
• The Project Engagement Approach (v1.0, 2021)
• The Project Engagement Approach (v2.0, 2022)
• The Project Engagement Approach (v2.0, 2022) in 2023
• The Project Engagement Approach (v3.0, 2024)
• Activity as Formation of Concept

Today I reflected on my knowledge projects about “Activity as Formation of Concept” and collected a set of relevant articles. In 2021, I introduced Andy Blunden’s notion of “Activity as Formation of Concept” in a book (draft) titled Project-oriented Activity Theory. Later, I used the notion of “Activity as Formation of Concept” to develop several knowledge frameworks. For example, I developed the Platform Innovation as Concept-fit framework and introduced it in the book Platform for Development in 2021.

In 2023, I edited a book (draft) titled Grasping the Concept: The Territory of Concepts and Concept Dynamics to curate outcomes from several projects about Concepts. Chapter 7 of the book is titled “Activity as Formation of Concept”.

The screenshot shows that there are only three articles under the chapter.

Now it’s time to edit an independent book to represent the idea.

In 2020, I designed a series of diagrams to represent Andy Blunden’s approach to Activity Theory. The above diagram highlights “Activity as Formation of Concept”.

According to Andy Blunden, there are three types of Objectification of a Concept:

• Symbolic Objectification: “Verbal” and “Visual”
• Instrumental Objectification: “designed” and “found”
• Practical Objectification: “Branded” and “Shared”

I also designed a diagram to represent the landscape of Culture. It uses three-phase development to understand the dynamics of culture.

I used the above diagram to explain the concept of “culture” from the perspective of Project-oriented Activity Theory. It zooms out to a large view that connects the Individual mind (Idea) and Collective theme (Zeitgeist) through Collective Projects (Concept).

From 2020 to 2024, I used the above framework to develop several knowledge frameworks and tools for some knowledge projects. I also used the framework as a method to guide my projects of developing brand-new concepts. For example:

• The concept of “Activity Analysis”
• The concept of “Knowledge Center”
• The concept of “Value Circle”
• The concept of “Platform Genidentity”

Eventually, I connected the notion of “Formation of Concept” with my other ideas such as “Themes of Practice”, “Thematic Exploration”, and “Evolving Concept System”.

• Formation of Concept: it was introduced by Andy Bluenden. I wrote a book (draft) titled Project-oriented Activity Theory in 2021.
• Themes of Practice: it was part of Curativity Theory. In 2021, I edited a book (draft) about it.
• Thematic Exploration: it introduces a practical framework for exploring potential themes for developing concept systems. In 2023, I wrote a book (draft) about it.
• Evolving Concept System: it introduces a framework to understand the dynamics of the development of a concept system.

The new possible book focuses on Andy Blunden’s notion of “Activity as Formation of Concept” and my relevant practice. It is divided into five parts:

• Part 1: The Background of Activity Theory
• Part 2: Andy Blunden’s Approach
• Part 3: Project Engagement
• Part 4: Formation of Concept
• Part 5: Creative Concept System

Some numbers about the possible book:

• 5 parts
• 22 articles
• Total 463 min read
• Total 122, 695 words (about 245 sing-spaced pages)

Contents

Part 1: The Background of Activity Theory

• Chapter 1: The Landscape of Activity Theory and CHAT (2020) — 19 min
• Chapter 2: The Genidentity of Activity Theory (2024)— 7 min

Part 2: Andy Blunden’s Approach

Short version:

• Andy Blunden’s Vision of Activity Theory — 7 min
• Case Study: Collaborative Learning Space — 7 min
• Case Study: TEDx as “Formation of Concept” — 8 min

Full version:

• Chapter 3: Project as a Unit of Activity — 40 min
• Chapter 4: Project-oriented Activity Theory — 50 min

Part 3: Project Engagement

• Chapter 5: Project-oriented Activity Theory (Summary) — 26 min
• Chapter 6: The Project Engagement Toolkit — 10 min
• Chapter 7: Business as Engagement — 18 min
• Chapter 8: Idea Engagement — 22 min
• Chapter 9: Idea Engagement, Members of Projects, and A New Canvas — 12 min

Part 4: Formation of Concept

• Chapter 10: Platform Innovation as Concept-fit — 49 min
• Chapter 11: Personal Innovation as Career-fit — 22 min
• Chapter 12: Concept Network: Mapping Thematic Landscape — 27 min
• Chapter 13: Concept Choices — 10 min
• Chapter 14: Concept as Platform-core: The Movements of Unfolding Uniqueness — 18 min
• Chapter 15: How to Grow A Knowledge Center — 16 min
• Chapter 16: How Does Collective Learning Work? — 6 min
• Chapter 17: Center, Circle, and Genidentity— 27 min

Part 5: Creative Concept System

• Chapter 18: Spontaneous Concept System — 18 min
• Chapter 19: The Evolving Concept System — 13 min
• Chapter 20: Concept System, Diagram Network, and Knowledge Frameworks — 14 min
• Chapter 21: The Landscape of Evolving Knowledge Enterprise — 10 min
• Chapter 22: Concept, Activity, and Cognition — 29 min

This book is edited for the first Fellow of Activity Analysis Center. I am testing the fellow program.

Activity Analysis

The Trilogy of “Concept Development”

This possible book inspired me to form a new trilogy: Concept Development.

There is an interesting fact behind the trilogy: the narrative sequence of the trilogy is different from the real historical sequence of my projects. This is a good example of Double Trajectories of Concept Development:

• The Developmental Trajectory of “PRACTICE”
• The Developmental Trajectory of “THEORY”

At the Developmental Trajectory of “PRACTICE”, I see all learned knowledge as heuristic tools for running several knowledge projects.

There are many knowledge projects behind these three books, I’d like to divide them into three phases.

• Phase 1: Appropriating Activity Theory (2020–2022)
• Phase 2: Running Knowlege Centers (2022–2023)
• Phase 3: Evolving Concept System (2023–2024)

I learned the notion of “Activity as Formation of Concept” in Phase 1 and applied it to Phase 2. In Phase 3, I expanded my ideas from a Single Concept to a Concept System.

At the Developmental Trajectory of “THEORY”, I see all real actions of running knowledge projects as data to test different theoretical approaches and knowledge frameworks.

These three possible books represent the outcome of my thoughts at the “THEORY” level.

• Nov 29, 2023 — Grasping the Concept: The Territory of Concepts and Concept Dynamics
• June 1, 2024 — Center, Circle, and Genidentity: The Dynamics of Networked Knowledge Centers
• June 16, 2024 — Activity as Formation of Concept: Engaging with Andy Blunden’s Approach to Activity Theory

This is a fantastic journey!