ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the relationship between human cognition and tools as it applies to the problem of rapidly changing information technology, an issue I have been studying for a number of years (e.g., DiBello, 1996a, 1996b, 1997; DiBello & Kindred, 1992; DiBello & Spender, 1996; Scribner, Sacks, DiBello, & Kindred, 1991; Scribner, DiBello, Kindred, & Zazanis, 1992). Although we focus on relatively complex information technologies, we continually find that the fundamental mechanisms of tool mastery and appropriation remain deceptively the same, regardless of tool complexity. We believe that most of what human beings do with complex tools could be predicted by close observation of how people use and modify even the simplest tools.
