This multi-disciplinary book develops three intertwined themes: the perspective of situated action from cognitive science, a model of social context as a framework for inspiring artifact use and starting from it, and the individual and organizational impact of the new electronic environments of communication. Using plenty of up-to-date references from different scientific disciplines such as HCI, computer-mediated communication, cognitive sciences, social psychology, cultural anthropology and research in decision making, the book challenges older models of communication as information transfer and discusses the new communication environments.