I am (docent) associate professor of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at Stockholm University (SU) in Sweden since February 2003.
My research belongs to the research field of human-computer interaction (HCI) and in particular to the field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). I am interested in the relationship between writing and technology from socio-cultural perspectives of literacy and tool use. I work with a particular focus on design, adoption and use of technologies for reflective and collaborative purposes.
My work seeks to produce a better understanding of the development of use of learning environments and in particular, it intends to reconsider the notion of the user and her activity from a psychological and developmental perspective on tool use known as “Instrumental genesis approach” (Rabardel, 1995). The “Instrumental genesis approach” has its roots in both activity theory and French ergonomics. According to Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006), “The instrumental genesis approach focuses on the integration of artifacts into the structure of human activities and provides the most elaborated conceptual account of such integration. The instrumental genesis approach maintains that the genuine appropriation of artifacts by human beings does not happen all at once. Typically, it is an outcome of developmental transformations of artifacts, individuals and social interaction” (p.110). Within this specific theoretical framework, my research work focuses not only on theoretical issues related to the introduction of technology into writing and learning activities but also on design of writing and learning environments from a practical standpoint. Furthermore, my work emphasizes the need for developers and for designers to take account of the actual transformation of practices and the real needs of users (i.e. learners, writers, co-authors) over the course of artifact appropriation.
Prior to joining Stockholm University, I was post-doc (forskarassistent) researcher at IPLAB-NADAat the Royal Institute of Technology. Before coming to Sweden in August 1999, I was a Ph D student at the University of Paris VIII, Department of cognition and work-oriented activities and at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Lyon, France. My dissertation, “Collaborative networked activities: An instrumental approach to collaborative writing”, dealt with the problem of appropriating computer tools for collaborative writing activities and my principal advisor was Professor Pierre Rabardel. I defended my dissertation in Cognitive Psychology in December 1999 and my dissertation obtained the highest degree of the five possible degrees within the French educational system.