Activity Analysis Network #3: Activity, Enterprise, and Weave-the-Life
This is the 3rd issue of the Activity Analysis Center's newsletter
by Oliver Ding
Hi, and welcome to Activity Analysis Network, a newsletter hosted by the Activity Analysis Center.
Each issue is organized around the "Flow - Focus - Center - Circle" schema, the primary model of the World of Activity Toolkit (v1, 2025).
As a biweekly newsletter, I'll share summaries of new articles from the Activity Analysis Center, along with updates on related activities, including some of my own published work elsewhere.
Flow
The historical development of the Activity Analysis Center and my experience of daily life
On February 22, 2022, I stayed in a room to conduct a self-dialogue to resolve a creative challenge. The picture shows my workspace that day.
What creative challenge did I face? It resonated with the Means-End principle in Activity Theory. My understanding of the principle extended beyond the immediate situation, leading to a series of insights later.
In the latest issue of the Appropriating Activity Theory series (#3: Means, End, and Creative Chaos), I shared this story in more detail.
FOCUS
The Thematic Foci of the Activity Analysis Center
Over the past two weeks, I have taken "Enterprise" as a thematic focus of my work, especially the distinction and connection between "Enterprise" and "Activity."
This exploration can be viewed as a creative dialogue between the Life-as-Activity approach and the World of Activity approach.
On October 3, 2025, I developed the Weave-the-Life model.
This new model is similar to the original Create-Curate-Weave schema, but it employs four general terms: Activity, Opportunity, Enterprise, and Self.
While the Create-Curate-Weave schema was created as part of the World of Activity toolkit — a sub-framework of Creative Life Theory (v3.0) — the Weave-the-Life model was developed as a sub-framework of the Life-as-Activity approach, itself inspired by Activity Theory.
On the same day, I updated the landscape of the Life-as-Activity approach, incorporating the new model as a member of the approach (see diagram above).
The diagram presents a landscape of the Life-as-Activity approach, encompassing nine knowledge frameworks, eleven book drafts, and one tool.
The first three frameworks provide an ontological-level explanation that frames the entire approach.
- The Activity as Project Engagement model offers a theoretical integration that connects Andy Blunden’s approach with Yrjö Engeström’s Activity System Model.
- The Life-History Topology model proposes a way to understand social life, serving as the foundation for individual life development.
- The Weave-the-Life framework bridges Activity as Project Engagement and Life-History Topology, explaining how the former unfolds into the latter.
The other six frameworks function as an epistemological-level toolkit, each approaching a different unit of analysis with a distinct model.
Serving as the intermediate layer between the Activity as Project Engagement model and the Life-History Topology model, the Weave-the-Life model plays a significant role in the approach. Although it is the newest member of the Life-as-Activity approach, it marks an important milestone because it contributes to the micro–meso–macro connection.
More importantly, the model draws a clear distinction between researchers and actors. While traditional Activity Theorists study Activity as an object of analysis from the researcher’s perspective, the concept of Enterprise re-centers the actor’s own perspective, giving the subjective experience back to them.
In the Weave-the-Life mode, we may picture an Enterprise as a chain — an ongoing sequence of endeavors that unfolds over time — while an Activity can be seen as a node within that chain, a self-contained system composed of coordinated actions.
This metaphor is meant as an illustration rather than a structural definition, highlighting how Enterprise emphasizes temporal unfolding (diachronic), whereas Activity emphasizes systemic organization at a given moment (synchronic).
Thus, while Activity Theory provides a structural snapshot of mediated action, the notion of Enterprise restores the temporal and experiential flow of human endeavor.
On the same day, I also developed the Enterprise Development Framework for the World of Activity Approach.
The diagram above shows a full journey of enterprise development, highlighting five stages:
- Creative Theme
- Scalable Focus
- Center Development
- Value Circle
- Developmental Platform
It roughly echoes the World of Activity model (also known as the Flow-Focus-Center-Circle schema), which was introduced in my first Kindle book, Homecoming: A Thematic Trip and the World of Activity Approach.
- Flow → Creative Theme
- Focus → Scalable Focus
- Center → Center Development
- Circle → Value Circle, Developmental Platform
Both the Enterprise Development framework and the World of Activity model are part of Creative Life Theory (v3.0).
The Enterprise Development framework curates several ideas I developed in previous book drafts over the past several years.
Related Links
CENTER
The Core of the Activity Analysis Center
However, I was not sure whether the concept of "Enterprise" was too radical for the Life-as-Activity approach.
Therefore, I decided to keep "Enterprise" within the World-of-Activity approach, using only the existing concepts and principles of the Life-as-Activity approach to develop a new version of the Weave-the-Life model.
Later, on October 13, 2025, I revisited the Weave-the-Life Model and developed a series of frameworks that together form the Weave-the-Life Framework Family:
- Weave-the-System
- Weave-the-Project
- Weave-the-Case
The Weave-the-System Framework curates key knowledge elements from the Activity System Model, the Project Engagement Approach, and the Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) Framework, creating a new model that brings these principles together in a unified structure.
The Weave-the-Project Framework features the core ideas of the Project Engagement (v3.1) Approach and highlights its essential components within the Weave format.
Since the Weave Basic Form functions as a meta-framework, it can be adapted to create situational models for case studies and reflective analysis. The Weave-the-Case Framework demonstrates such an application.
Together, these three frameworks form a nested structure that offers a scalable way to connect the meso level and the micro level of activity.
The Weave-the-Life Framework bridges Activity as Project Engagement and Life-History Topology, illustrating how the former unfolds into the latter.
The Life-History Topology was introduced in 2022; however, the details of unfolding the chain had not yet been fully explored. The Weave-the-Life Framework now employs two synchronic dimensions and two diachronic dimensions to map “Activity as Project Engagement” onto the Life-History Topology, clarifying the previously missing details.
Although the framework currently presents only three diagrams, its underlying method, together with the Weave Basic Form, provides an open yet systematic approach for exploring Life as Activity.
More details can be found in the link below:
CIRCLE
The Context of the Activity Analysis Center
Over the past several years, I worked on several theoretical projects, such as the Ecological Practice Approach, Curativity Theory, Creative Life Theory, and Thematic Space Theory.
Inspired by creativity researcher Howard Gruber's idea of "Network of Enterprises," I used the "Knowledge Center" approach to manage this large knowledge system. Each knowledge center hosts one or two related theoretical approaches.
- CALL (Creative Action Learning Lab): the Ecological Practice Approach and Creative Life Theory
- Curativity Center: Curativity Theory
- TALE (Thematic Analysis Learning Engagement): Thematic Space Theory
- Frame for Work: A theory about Knowledge Frameworks
Within the past two weeks, four creations have emerged in the creative circle:
- Thematic Enterprise Theory
- Tiny Culture Center
- Weave Basic Form
- Thematic Card: Design Langue
On October 6, 2025, I finished a tiny paper titled The Enterprise Development Framework. In the final part of the article, I present a new knowledge map to curate ideas on the development of a thematic enterprise. Since our discussion has gone beyond development, I use Thematic Enterprise Theory to name this line of exploration.
The diagram below uses a unique visual-spatial structure to organize book drafts, a primary thematic map, and featured models.
While designing the knowledge map, I considered which knowledge center should host the Thematic Enterprise Theory.
TALE (Thematic Analysis Learning Engagement) seemed like an ideal candidate because it focuses on thematic engagement. However, it currently hosts Thematic Space Theory.
The Frame for Work Center was launched in early 2025 and currently hosts a book titled Frame for Work and related projects. It does not yet associate with a theoretical approach. The Thematic Enterprise Theory could be assigned to it because a major part of the theory is Cultural Frameworks, which aligns with the center’s direction.
Over the past several months, a strategic shift has occurred in my creative journey: expanding from knowledge engagement to cultural innovation. In Homecoming: A Thematic Trip and the World of Activity, I introduced the notion of “Thematic Enterprise as Tiny Culture.”
Chapter 10 exemplifies the concept of “Thematic Enterprise as Tiny Culture.” It details how my 19-year-old chess poetry series, titled “Chapter of Chess,” was translated by AI into English to create a 2025 calendar as a Christmas gift for my chess-enthusiast son, Peiroan. This act transforms a deeply personal creative endeavor into a meaningful cultural artifact, capable of being inherited and developed within the family.
To further emphasize this shift, I decided to design a new knowledge center called Tiny Culture Center to host the Thematic Enterprise Theory. Although the theory covers both knowledge enterprises, cultural enterprises, and business cultural enterprises, I selected cultural enterprises as the primary focus of my next creative journey.
The negative space in the mark reads as the side of a ribbon-wrapped gift box — symbolizing culture as a shared gift, wrapped in anticipation and possibility.
Since I use the “Value Circle” method to manage my network of knowledge centers, I will coordinate the Tiny Culture Center alongside TALE and other knowledge centers.
On October 10, 2025, I published an article titled [Meta-framework] The “Weave” Basic Form, which became the new focus of my creative flow within the past several days. For example, on October 14, I used it to develop the Weave-the-Whole framework for Attachance Theory.
On October 13, 2025, I participated in a LinkedIn discussion initiated by a design education researcher about the meaning of Strategic Design. One comment suggested using job postings to explore how this concept manifests in the market.
The next morning, while revisiting the discussion and noticing a reply to my earlier comment, I realized that I could apply the Product Langue framework to study “Design” itself — thus developing a Design Langue research project.
Related Links
- The Bloom of Enterprise (The Enterprise Development Framework)
- [Meta-framework] The “Weave” Basic Form
- Thematic Card: Design Langue
World
Me, You, and We
My name is Oliver Ding. I am the founder of the Activity Analysis Center. I am based in Houston, Texas, US.
Where are you?
v1.0 - October 15, 2025 - 1,827 words