Key Terms

Turkle Article

Psychoanalytic Theory: Inner forces that are outside your awareness that are directing your behaviour. It is through the study of thoughts and dreams that unconscious intentions are revealed.

Relational Artifacts: An object that takes on the characteristics of a subject for the user. A user may experience feelings of relationship with the object in a similar way as to another subject.

Virtual Personae: The disembodied representations of an individual in online communities, role-playing communities, and other virtual spaces.

Psychosocial Moratorium: A time or place to experiment with identity and develop a “core self”. Erikson felt that adolescence was a time of psychosocial moratorium. Our online virtual personae is an ongoing psychosocial moratorium.

Dall’Alba and Barnacle Article

Cartesianism:  the philosophical and scientific belief that views the mind as being separate from the body.  The mind has the properties of understanding and intelligence, where the body and everything beyond it just occupies space.  This belief is derived from the writings of the French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650).

Embodied Knowing: the integration of knowing, acting, and being.  It is a combination of knowledge and skills that are attributed to the conceptual knowledge appropriate to a specific area of study.

Epistemology: the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin of human knowledge, especially with reference to its limits and validity.

Activity Theory

Subject: the people involved with the activity.  Who are the important actor or actors involved?

Rules: the rules that the people involved in the activity must follow.  The rules influence how the activity occurs.

Instruments: the tools, machinery, skills, symbols, or technology used in the activity.

Community: other people or organizations that may influence the outcome of the activity.

Division of Labour: the jobs or tasks the subjects need to do for the activity.  Who is responsible for certain jobs?

Object: the goal of the activity.  What are the actors trying to achieve?  What activity is taking place?

Outcome: what actually occurs at the end of the activity.