Much Ado About Affordances: Implications for Researching Technological Affordances

Featuring Gale Parchoma, University of Calgary

Ontological debates on the nature of affordances muddy the waters for interpreting, comparing, and critiquing research on technological affordances. The widespread use of affordances has naturalized the term, often masking the import of its evolving social science definitions. Diversity in applications of affordances across disciplines has led to calls to abandon the term altogether.

Following an account of ontological debates about the nature of affordances, Dr. Parchoma will examine a selection of thematically linked and often-cited papers on technological affordances for varied applications of the term. Implications for research will be discussed.

» Full session recording (Adobe Connect)

» Presentation slides (PowerPoint)