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Affordances#

See also: bad

Wikipedia on affordance

In psychology, affordance is what the environment offers the individual. In design, affordance has a narrower meaning, it refers to possible actions that an actor can readily perceive.

The Interaction Design Foundation answers What are affordances? in the context of design

An affordance is what a user can do with an object based on the user's capabilities.

As such, an affordance is not a "property" of an object (like a physical object or a User Interface). Instead, an affordance is defined in the relation between the user and the object: A door affords opening if you can reach the handle. For a toddler, the door does not afford opening if she cannot reach the handle.

An affordance is, in essence, an action possibility in the relation between user and an object.

Norman (2002)

When affordances are taken advantage of, the user knows what to do just by looking: no picture, label, or instruction is required. Complex things may require explanation, but simple things should not. When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed (p. 9)

The affordances of digital technology#

The bad mindset includes the nascent idea of the affordance mindset. A mindset that

  • knows that digital technologies can be changed; and,
  • sees value in changing digital technologies to suit the purposes of the people using it.

Echoing Kay's (1984) discussion of the "protean nature of the computer" (p. 59) as "the first metamedium, and as such has degrees of freedom and expression never before encountered".

There are two challenges to this mindset:

  1. The contemporary environment positions digital technologies as established (aka fixed.)

    Changing digital technologies is seen as costly (shadow systems are inefficient), difficulty, dangerous (cyber-security), and increasingly illegal (see growing arguments over the right to repair). Only those approved by the organisation or the vendor can change digital technologies. Increasingly, the digital technology departments within organisations are relationship managers, not developers.

  2. Changing digital technologies is harder than it should be.

    Leaving aside the environment digital technology is "biased toward those with the capacity to write code" (Rushkoff, 2010, p. 128). For many, coding remains a step too far. Either in terms of inherent difficulty, available time, or perhaps due to the 1% rule.

References#

Kay, A. (1984). Computer Software. Scientific American, 251(3), 53--59.

Norman, D. A. (2002). The design of everyday things (1st Basic paperback). Basic Books.

Rushkoff, D. (2010). Program or be programmed: Ten commands for a digital age. OR Books.

Path#