Exercise 15

One way to begin this assignment would be to take the activity theory triangle (such as found on page 404 of Writing About Writing) and use its basic structure as the “bones” of your infographic. Then fill in the details. You may, of course, go beyond the triangle or adopt a different organizational approach, but the triangle is a good start. 

Your infographic should provide key details about the six components of your activity system: the subject, rules, community, division of labor, motive, and especially the textual tools. (As in Marro’s activity analysis, you might not list, for example, the actual rules of the system but instead identify how they are made, enforced, codified, etc.) Your infographic should also have a clear labeling system and a way of understanding the connections you’ve found between the various parts of the system. 

Keep in mind that even identifying the components overview of an activity system is only the preliminary stages of your activity analysis essay. Your essay should not be primarily a description of the activity triangle applied to your chosen activity system. This infographic should, however, help you to think more about the various connections that you could explore for further analysis. 

Rubric: 

A successful infographic will include the following traits: 

• It is clearly and consistently labeled. (4 points) 
• It has an organizational structure that is easy to understand. (4 points) 
• It includes key details about each of the six activity system components and interactions between those components. (7 points) 
• It focuses especially on the textual tools of the system. (5 points) 

Total possible score: 20 points. 

Journal 18

Respond, with 200-600 words, to the following prompt: How do you feel about your current draft of your activity analysis? It may help to address some of the following, or similar, questions: 

• What parts or aspects of your draft do you feel especially proud of? 
• What parts or aspects of your draft do you feel need special attention to complete or revise? 
• How did you feel as you were writing this partial first draft of your essay? 
• What parts or sections of your draft have you completed (at least in terms of having a rough draft) so far in the drafting process? 
• What parts or sections of your draft have you not yet completed or started so far in the drafting process? 

Include the total word count of your response with your entry. Include only your response, and not the prompt itself, in your word count.