Charles Bazerman

Really great idea for a book of theory, and oh, why did it take us so long to start mining the Soviets for stuff other than Marxist political philosophy? "Activity theory": the role of human activity in producing the human world - work, education, community. Not Certeau and "everyday life", but productive activity through a psychological-materialist lens, and, in this book, the role of writing therein. So, Janet Giltrow on national English exams creating "linguistic consciousness" in India; Cheryl Geisler on Palm Pilots (it was 2003) becoming embedded in and mediating the lives of their users; Jean Ketter and Judith Hunter on a student navigating the oppositional worlds of academia and public relations. It's almost touching. A wide new interesting world, and I could spend more time with this book, and maybe write a paper on the influence of the briefing note genre on policy. Or of LibraryThing on our interaction with our books.… (more)