Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Misusing affordances?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

It's interesting how the use of a term can reveal how one thinks about the world. Here Clark Quinn describes how he has used the term 'affordances'. The definition  of the term is this: "the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used." This is how I use it (and I use it quite a bit). Quinn, though, contrasts this meaning with his use of something called 'core affordances', which I would loosely describe as the use of the object intended by its creators or developers. It reflects a type of essentialism in his perspective, and so he speaks of what we can (say) do 'naturally' with an LMS or some other technology. But does a technology have an essential nature? I don't think so. Image: UX Collective.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 03, 2024 3:03 p.m.

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