Task-artifact cycle

The task-artifact cycle (artifact can also be spelled artefact) captures the idea that tasks and artifacts coevolve (Carroll et al. 1991). The cyclical relationship between the two can be described as follows: A given task sets requirements for the design of an artifacts to help an individual perform the task. The resulting artifact, in turn, creates new or uexpected possibilities or pose new constraints on the performance of the task. These possiblities and/or constraints often suggest a revision of the original task for which the artefact was made. The new task sets new requirements for the redesign of the artifact and so on and so on (de Lëon 1999). The task-artifact cycle is in other words an iterative process of continuous, mutually dependent development between task and artifact, a process that will never reach an optimum state.

Figure 1: The task-artifact cycle.

In software terms, it means an endless versioning of software, or a branching of specific sub-programs (e.g. the web components of Adobe Photoshop became ImageReady). This happens because requirements never stabilize and because the act of introducing the software into the work process changes the nature of the work. Also, software is always "appropriated" and will consequently never be used as intended by the designer.

Further perspectives of the task-artifact cycle

Not only does the artifact itself, as suggested by the task-artifact cycle, change the task it was designed to address, but it also has to adapt to other changes in the context of use. Human organisations are continually evolving in the face of changing circumstances and wherever humans are involved, there is a constant negotiation and re-negogation of meaning, work processes, identities, etc. This poses a problem to information systems as computers and software can only respond to pre-defined situations or problems in a finite problem space (Harris and Henderson 1999). Information systems therefore have an inherent disadvantage when trying to keep up with the constant change of the unpredictable humans. Pre-defined, rule-based behaviour is not sufficient, and therefore it is only natural that people continually find their artifacts insufficient for their evolving work practices.

The canonical reference for the term task-artifact cycle is Carroll et al. 1991, but the idea that the term describes was by no means 'discovered' by these researchers.

 

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References

 what's this?

Carroll, John M., Kellogg, Wendy A. and Rosson, Mary Beth (1991): The Task-Artifact Cycle. In: Carroll, John M. (ed.). "Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface". Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

de Léon, David (0000): Building Thought into Things. In: Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Cognitive Science 0000. pp. 37-47.

Harris, Jed and Henderson, Austin (1999): A Better Mythology for System Design. In: Altom, Mark W. and Williams, Marian G. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 99 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference May 15-20, 1999, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. pp. 88-95.

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Every effort has been made by the individual contributing authors as well as The Interaction-Design.org Foundation to discover and contact copyright holders of artwork/illustrations/content used on Interaction-Design.org. To the extent that a copyright holder could not be found or an inadvertent permissions or copyright error was made, The Interaction-Design.org Foundation stands ready to remove content upon notice and request by a copyright holder. In the case that you believe that any content or other material provided through Interaction-Design.org infringes your copyright, you should notify The Interaction-Design.org Foundation of your infringement claim in accordance with the procedure set forth below.

We will process each notice of alleged infringement which The Interaction-Design.org Foundation receives and take appropriate action in accordance with applicable intellectual property laws. A notification of claimed copyright infringement should be emailed to mads@interaction-design.org (subject: "Takedown Request"). You may also contact us by mail at:

The Interaction-Design.org Foundation
Att: Mads Soegaard
Chr. Molbechs Vej 4
DK-8000 Aarhus C.
Denmark

To be effective, the notification must be in writing and contain the following information:

  1. an electronic or physical signature of the copyright owner or the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest
  2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed
  3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on Interaction-Design.org that is reasonably sufficient to enable us to identify and locate the material;
  4. how The Interaction-Design.org Foundation can contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and email address
  5. a written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
  6. if you represent a publisher, a written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the material has not been placed in the public domain, or licenced under another licence, before you acquired the copyright as this would possibly invalidate your copyright
  7. and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

8. Trademarks and other rights

All trademarks, logos, service marks, collective marks, design rights, personality rights or similar rights that are mentioned, used or cited on Interaction-Design.org are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark on Interaction-Design.org does not vest in the author or The Interaction-Design.org Foundation any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of The Interaction-Design.org Foundation and its authors by such owners. As such The Interaction-Design.org Foundation can not grant any rights to use any otherwise protected materials. Your use of any such or similar incorporeal property is at your own risk.

9. Screenshots

Screenshots of copyrighted computer software, for which the copyright is held by the author(s) or the company that created the software, is believed to fall under the fair use doctrine in the US (and similar laws in other countries). It is believed that reproduction for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, or research is not copyright infringement. If you reuse screenshots, as well as any other information on Interaction-Design.org, you do so at your own risk and under the copyright laws of your country.

10. Copyright of Abstracts

Abstracts in the Wiki Bibliography (/references/) are submitted by their authors who use the wiki to make their research as accessible as possible. When a page on Interaction-Design.org cites/references/lists a work from the bibliography, its abstract is included. However, abstracts have varying copyrights depending which publisher the work is published through. You should assume that an abstract is copyright, all rights reserved, of its publisher and/or author and therefore always use/cite abstracts according to Fair Use. You may visit the publisher's website to learn about the specific copyright terms (e.g. ACM, IEEE, or Springer) or contact the author directly. Bottom line: Cite/use abstracts according to the principles of fair use as it may otherwise be construed as a copyright infringement and subject to legal action.

11. User Submissions / User Content

You understand and acknowledge that additions to the Wiki Bibliography (including article abstracts), additions the Conference Calendar (including conference descriptions), user-contributed notes on each page (including text, photographs, graphics), or other materials posted by users on Interaction-Design.org ("Content") are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. This means that you, and not The Interaction-Design.org Foundation, are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post or otherwise make available to other users of Interaction-Design.org.

When submitting content to Interaction-Design.org, you agree to not:

  1. impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  2. upload, post or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
  3. upload, post or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights ("Rights") of any party;
  4. upload, post or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

You acknowledge that The Interaction-Design.org Foundation shall have the right to remove any Content that violates these Site Terms and Conditions or is otherwise objectionable.

12. Third Party Websites

If we provide links or pointers to other websites, no inference or assumption should be made that The Interaction-Design.org Foundation operates, controls, or is otherwise connected with these websites. When you click on a link within Interaction-Design.org, we will not warn you that you have left a Site and are subject to the terms and conditions (including privacy policies) of the destination website. In some cases it may be less obvious than others that you have left a Site and reached another website. Please be careful to read the terms of use and privacy policy of any website before you provide any confidential information or engage in any transactions. You should not rely on these Terms for another website. The Interaction-Design.org Foundation is not responsible for the content or practices of any other website. By using Interaction-Design.org, you acknowledge and agree that The Interaction-Design.org Foundation is not responsible or liable to you for any content or other materials hosted and served from any third party website.

13. Email communication: Confidential and proprietary information notice

Email messages sent from members of The Interaction-Design.org Foundation, including emails generated from the use of the interaction-design.org website, are proprietary to The Interaction-Design.org Foundation, and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are addressed. Such messages may contain privileged or confidential information and should not be circulated or used for any purpose other than for what they are intended. If you receive a message from a member of The Interaction-Design.org Foundation in error, please notify the sender immediately. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from using, copying, altering, or disclosing the contents of the message. The Interaction-Design.org Foundation accepts no responsibility for loss or damage arising from the use of the information transmitted by email message including damage from virus.

14. Usage conditions

Please make sure that you understand that the information provided by The Interaction-Design.org Foundation is being provided freely, and that no kind of agreement or contract is created between you and the owners, partners, users, or authors of this site, the owners of the servers upon which it is housed, the individual contributors of the The Interaction-Design.org Foundation, any project administrators, sysops or anyone else who is in any way connected with this project. If you choose to use or copy anything from from this site it does not create or imply any contractual or extracontractual liability on the part of The Interaction-Design.org Foundation or any of its members, partners, sponsors, contributors or other users. Your use of any such or similar incorporeal property is at your own risk.

15. Legal Disputes

Any dispute arising from the use of Interaction-Design.org or the interpretation of the terms is governed by the laws of Denmark, and shall be settled by the courts of Denmark. All communications regarding legal matters must be made in writing to

The Interaction-Design.org Foundation
Att: Mads Soegaard
Chr. Molbechs Vej 4
DK-8000 Aarhus C.
Denmark


 

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