An activity theory approach to affordance

Bærentsen, Klaus B.; Trettvik, Johan

doi:10.1145/572020.572028

Cited by 188 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…One research stream has propagated a canonical view, assuming that primarily social conventions determine the meanings and existences of affordances (Barentsen & Trettvik, 2002;Bertelsen, 2006). For example, the affordance of a keyboard is for typing.…”

Section: Affordances and Niches As Ways Of Studying The End-user Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

Mettler

Sprenger

Winter

2017

European Journal of Information Systems

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Changing demands in society and the limited capabilities of health systems have paved the way for robots to move out of industrial contexts and enter more human-centered environments such as healthcare. We explore the shared beliefs and concerns of health workers on the introduction of autonomously operating service robots in hospitals or professional care facilities. By means of Qmethodology, a mixed research approach specifically designed for studying subjective thought patterns, we identify five potential end-user niches, each of which perceive different affordances and outcomes from using service robots in their working environment. Our findings allows for better understanding resistance and susceptibility of different users in a hospital and encourages managerial awareness of varying demands, needs, and surrounding conditions a service robot must contend with. We also discuss general insights into presenting the Q-methodology results and how an affordance-based view could inform the adoption, appropriation, and adaptation of emerging technologies.

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Section: Affordances and Niches As Ways Of Studying The End-user Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

Mettler

Sprenger

Winter

2017

European Journal of Information Systems

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“…We have argued that the notion of instrumental technology affordances of [18] is "operational" in the sense that the notion of deficiency or breakdown of various components of an affordance, and the consequences, is much more clearly elucidated than in much of the early literature; however, work in activity theory, notably [2,1], while taking its inspiration in work closely aligned with [18], could conceivably be used to perform a structured study of the concept and implications of brokenness of affordances. Similarly, recent attempts to give detailed accounts of cognition in interaction with technology could be used for a similar purpose [28], as may more finegrained analyses of the roles of signifiers and feedback [33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, objects with broken affordances may afford repurposing, to be used for something else or having some of its affordances that were already there take the foreground, even though they were not what the object was originally produced for, as already remarked by Baerentsen and Trettvik [2]. For example, an old CRT TV with a broken screen may be used as a table, or a polystyrene packing box cracked in two may be used as two bathtub toys.…”

Section: The Affordances Of Objects With Broken Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Affordances of Broken Affordances

Grünbaum

Simonsen

2015

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015

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Abstract.We consider the use of physical and virtual objects having one or more affordances associated to simple interactions with them. Based on Kaptelinin and Nardi's notion of instrumental affordance, we investigate what it means to break an affordance, and the two ensuing questions we deem most important: how users may (i) achieve their goals in the presence of such broken affordances, and may (ii) repurpose or otherwise interact with artefacts with broken affordances. We argue that (A) thorough analyses of breakdowns of affordances and their associated signifiers and feedbacks have implication for design, particularly so for virtual artefacts, and that (B) there is a largely unexplored design space for designing, and redesigning objects with broken affordances, rather than broken or decayed objects.

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“…For example, using Activity Theory, Bødker (1991) describes three complementary distinctions in human-tool interaction that exist at a physical artifact level, the subject/object level where humans are acting through the artifact, and handling of interfaces of the artifact. Similar, Baerentsen and Trettvik (2002) argued that using Activity as a unit of analysis for Human-Computer Interaction can greatly help to understand affordances as within the context of their socio-cultural influence and perceive them not as fixed instances of reality but as dynamic evolving properties of artifacts that are embedded in context and environment. Through learning and the use of signs and symbols, human agency can adopt, use and appropriate artifacts through their culturally-specific affordances.…”

Section: Social Affordancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative Affordances of Medical Records

Bardram

Houben

2017

Comput Supported Coop Work

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Abstract. This article proposes the concept of Collaborative Affordances to describe physical and digital properties (i.e., affordances) of an artifact, which affords coordination and collaboration in work. Collaborative Affordances build directly on Gibson (1977)'s affordance concept and extends the work by Sellen and Harper (2003) on the affordances of physical paper. Sellen and Harper describe how the physical properties of paper affords easy reading, navigation, mark-up, and writing, but focuses, we argue, mainly on individual use of paper and digital technology. As an extension to this, Collaborative Affordances focusses on the properties of physical and digital artifacts that affords collaborative activities. We apply the concept of Collaborative Affordances to the study of paper-based and electronic patient records in hospitals and detail how they afford collaboration through four types of Collaborative Affordances; being portable across patient wards and the entire hospital, by providing collocated access, by providing a shared overview of medical data, and by giving clinicians ways to maintain mutual awareness. We then discuss how the concept of Collaborative Affordances can be used in the design of new technology by providing a design study of a 'Hybrid Patient Record' (HyPR), which is designed to seamlessly blend and integrate paper-based with electronic patient records.

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An activity theory approach to affordance

Cited by 188 publications

References 12 publications

Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

The Affordances of Broken Affordances

Collaborative Affordances of Medical Records

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