Affordances, Architecture and the Action Possibilities of Learning Environments: A Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions

This paper critically reviews the body of literature on affordances relating to the design and inhabitation of school buildings. Focusing on the influence of learning spaces on pedagogical practices, we argue that links between affordances, architecture and the action possibilities of school-based environments have largely been overlooked and that such links hold great promise for better aligning space and pedagogy—especially amidst changing expectations of what effective teaching and learning ‘looks like’. Emerging innovative learning environments (ILEs) are designed to enable a wider pedagogical repertoire than traditional classrooms. In order to transcend stereotypical understandings about how the physical environment in schools may afford teaching and learning activities, it is becoming increasingly recognised that both design and practice reconceptualisation is required for affordances of new learning environments to be effectively actualised in support of contemporary education. With a focus on the environmental perceptions of architects, educators and learners, we believe affordance theory offers a useful framework for thinking about the design and use of learning spaces. We argue that Gibson’s affordance theory should be more commonly applied to help situate conversations between designers and users about how physical learning environments are conceived, perceived and actioned for effective teaching and learning.

Platformed professionalization: Labor, assets, and earning a livelihood through Airbnb

This paper analyses processes of professionalization on Airbnb in Berlin, exploring who is able to take part most successfully in urban value creation processes facilitated by short-term rental platforms. In doing so, it intervenes in debates on platform urbanism that focus on the role of digital platforms in reconfiguring urban governance and livelihoods. Combining a political economic approach and affordance theory, I conceptualize professionalization as a particular platform logic that benefits Airbnb and hosts who are able to take part, while reinforcing existing inequalities. Drawing on eight months of fieldwork in Berlin, I show how these professionalization practices differentially affect the strategies and practices of hosts, offering benefits to some while worsening the position of others who are unable or unwilling to professionalize. As such, professionalization processes produce inequalities and power asymmetries both on and off the platform, between hosts as well as between the platform owner and platform users. In a context where a growing number of city-dwellers rely on platforms to generate their livelihoods, such power shifts resulting from platform dynamics have a significant impact on who is able to benefit from platformization and thrive in a platform society.

Stimming, Improvisation, and COVID-19: (Re)negotiating Autistic Sensory Regulation During a Pandemic

Many autistic people consider repetitive and sensory practices such as stimming central to their identity and culture. In this paper, I argue that stimming is an improvisatory practice because it constitutes an articulation of autistic aesthetics and sensory preferences, is a crucial component of autistic culture, and consists of moment-by-moment negotiations with environmental and sensory barriers. Autistic people often stim with the help of technologies such as music and stim toys or tools to mediate between inner worlds and outer environments that may over/underwhelm us. I argue that during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the objects we touch (and our bodies) have become potential locations for transmission of the virus, our relationship with stimming (and our stim tools) has changed. This article connects critical improvisation studies, discourses on autistic stimming, and affordance theory to present a framework for understanding autistic stimming during the COVID-19 era: as improvisatory responses to the opportunities and barriers presented by the pandemic. I argue that stimming during the COVID-19 era is a continuously mediated response between our body-minds and the affordances of our environment, and I maintain that this process is a lived improvisation.

Explaining multistability: postphenomenology and affordances of technologies

A central issue in postphenomenology is how to explain the multistability of technologies: how can it be that specific technologies can be used for a wide variety of purposes (the “multi”), while not for all purposes (the “stability”)? For example, a table can be used for the purpose of sleeping, having dinner at, or even for staging a fencing match, but not for baking a cake. One explanation offered in the literature is that the (material) design of a technology puts constraints on the purposes for which technologies can be used. In this paper, I argue that such an explanation—while partly correct—fails to address the role of the environment in which human beings operate in putting constraints on technology use. I suggest that James Gibson’s affordance theory helps highlighting how stabilities in technology use arise in the interaction between human being and environment. Building on more recent approaches in affordance theory, I suggest that the environment can be conceptualized as a “rich landscape of affordances” that solicits certain actions, which are not just cued by the environment’s material structure, but also by the normativity present in the form of life in which a human being participates. I briefly contrast the approach to affordances developed in this paper with how Klenk (2020) and Tollon (2021) have conceptualized the “affordance character” of technological artifacts, and highlight how a focus on the situated nature of affordances augments these earlier conceptualizations.

Short video apps as a health information source: an investigation of affordances, user experience and users’ intention to continue the use of TikTok

PurposeAlthough leveraging social media to access healthcare information is nothing new, a boom in short video apps offers new potential for disseminating health-related information. However, it is still unclear how short video apps might facilitate and benefit users’ consumption of health information. Furthermore, the technology features of short video apps complicate attempts to conduct research about them; as a consequence, they have been understudied. For addressing these concerns, this study adopts an affordance perspective to investigate the relationship between affordances and user experience and to examine factors that contribute to users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon affordance theory, we constructed a research model that integrates four types of affordances (livestreaming, searching, meta-voicing and recommending), three types of user experience (immersion, social presence and credibility perception), and user’s intention to continue use. We employed an online survey and obtained a sample of 372 valid responses from TikTok (DouYin) users in China. The partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe study found that the user experience, in terms of social presence, immersion and credibility perception, can significantly predict users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information. Furthermore, the user experience was positively associated with the different affordances provided by the short video apps.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have several implications. First, the study contributes to the health information behavior literature by incorporating the aspect of user experience. Moreover, the study extends the application of affordance theory to users’ health information acquisition, and it carries some practical implications on how to leverage the great potential of short video apps to serve public health communication better.

Exploration of affordances in subscription-based digital magazines

This study analyzed 128 digital magazines through the lens of affordance theory in order to analyze the current state of digital publishing and establish a framework for the design and development of digital magazines. Twenty affordances were identified and categorized into four distinct groups: extend content, community involvement, utility, and entertainment. Overall, a nonlinear relationship between the number of digital subscriptions and the variety of affordances implemented in a magazine was identified. Additionally, the 20 affordances identified were analyzed against three previously established frameworks, including Gibson’s original categorization of perceived, hidden, and false affordances. This study provides valuable information for the media industry regarding the application of the theory of affordance and how it applies to digital magazines. In order for a digital magazine to be perceived as a successful adaptation of the print issue, it must provide the end user with a unique and immersive experience

Exploration of affordances in subscription-based digital magazines

This study analyzed 128 digital magazines through the lens of affordance theory in order to analyze the current state of digital publishing and establish a framework for the design and development of digital magazines. Twenty affordances were identified and categorized into four distinct groups: extend content, community involvement, utility, and entertainment. Overall, a nonlinear relationship between the number of digital subscriptions and the variety of affordances implemented in a magazine was identified. Additionally, the 20 affordances identified were analyzed against three previously established frameworks, including Gibson’s original categorization of perceived, hidden, and false affordances. This study provides valuable information for the media industry regarding the application of the theory of affordance and how it applies to digital magazines. In order for a digital magazine to be perceived as a successful adaptation of the print issue, it must provide the end user with a unique and immersive experience

Business Model Innovation of IT-Enabled Customer Participating in Value Co-Creation Based on the Affordance Theory: A Case Study

This study uses the structured–pragmatics–situational case study approach to explore the intrinsic mechanism of enterprise digital enablement using affordance theory and how traditional enterprises enable customers to participate in value co-creation through information technology, then realize business model innovation and maintain continuous consumption. The study revealed the following: (1) Product affordance drives customers’ original willingness to engage in value co-creation in four dimensions: economy, reliability, uniqueness, and selectivity; (2) The visibility, convenience, association, and persistence of the platform affordance enhance users’ abilities to engage in value co-creation; (3) The interaction of affordance, structural enablement, and digital enablement drives the interaction of willingness and capability to engage in value co-creation; and (4) User participation behaviors in value co-creation can be divided into three dimensions (informational, actionable, and attitudinal participation)and four stages. The findings explain how traditional enterprises use IT enablement to promote business model innovation of customer participation in value co-creation and enrich the theories of digital enablement. The conclusions reveal the managerial implications of the ways, paths, and mechanism of business model innovation by IT enabling customers to participate in value co-creation.

Nomadic learners : an investigation of perceived affordances across formal and informal learning environments

Learning environments play a critical role in learning outcomes. This ethnographic case study investigates adolescent students' use of formal and informal learning environments and their self-regulated learning and technology use in these spaces. The researcher has been immersed at this public high school research site as a school faculty member for over eight years. Data in the form of observations, interviews, cognitive maps, and photovoice blogs were collected from sixteen students and teachers over one year between 2018 and 2019. This research was collected in a technology corridor of the American southeast growing at an extremely rapid pace. Many new schools are being constructed to keep up with the severe population growth. The conceptual framework involves spatial preference and technology use related to self-regulated learning. Affordance theory buttresses the investigation. Research questions were What are students' spatial preferences in informal and formal learning environments? What are students' self-perceptions of learning in formal and informal learning environments? What are students' use of technology in informal and formal learning environments? Key findings offer a deeper understanding of adolescent use of formal and informal learning environments inside and outside of school settings. The design of the school building, as well as a myriad of residential environments, were investigated. Findings include types of spaces that manifested in both formal and informal learning environments. These types are gathering spaces, comfort spaces, evolving spaces, spaces to thrive and technologically splintered spaces. This work's knowledge contributions include a clearer understanding of adolescent use patterns across formal and informal learning environments. The implications of this study are the development of guidelines on adolescent self-regulated learning practices and technology related to the built environment. Theoretical contributions of this work include an extension of affordance theory and a greater understanding of how adolescents perform in learning behavior settings.