{"product_id":"how-artifacts-afford-isbn-9780262044110","title":"How Artifacts Afford","description":"\u003cb\u003eA conceptual update of affordance theory that introduces the mechanisms and conditions framework, providing a vocabulary and critical perspective.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eTechnological affordances mediate between the features of a technology and the outcomes of engagement with that technology. The concept of affordances, which migrated from psychology to design with Donald Norman's influential 1988 book, \u003ci\u003eThe Design of Everyday Things\u003c\/i\u003e, offers a useful analytical tool in technology studies—but, Jenny Davis argues in \u003ci\u003eHow Artifacts Afford\u003c\/i\u003e, it is in need of a conceptual update. Davis provides just such an update, introducing the \u003ci\u003emechanisms and conditions framework\u003c\/i\u003e, which offers both a vocabulary and necessary critical perspective for affordance analyses.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mechanisms and conditions framework shifts the question from \u003ci\u003ewhat\u003c\/i\u003e objects afford to \u003ci\u003ehow\u003c\/i\u003e objects afford, \u003ci\u003efor whom\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eunder what circumstances\u003c\/i\u003e. Davis shows that through this framework, analyses can account for the power and politics of technological artifacts. She situates the framework within a critical approach that views technology as materialized action. She explains how \u003ci\u003erequest\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003edemand\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eencourage\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ediscourage\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003erefuse\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eallow\u003c\/i\u003e are mechanisms of affordance, and shows how these mechanisms take shape through variable conditions—\u003ci\u003eperception\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003edexterity\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ecultural and institutional legitimacy\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePutting the framework into action, Davis identifies existing methodological approaches that complement it, including critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA), app feature analysis, and adversarial design. In today's rapidly changing sociotechnical landscape, the stakes of affordance analyses are high. Davis's mechanisms and conditions framework offers a timely theoretical reboot, providing tools for the crucial tasks of both analysis and design.\u003c\/p\u003eChapter 1: Introduction\u003cbr\u003eChapter 2: A Brief History of Affordances\u003cbr\u003eChapter 3: Power and Politics\u003cbr\u003eChapter 4: Mechanisms of Affordance\u003cbr\u003eChapter 5: Conditions of Affordance\u003cbr\u003eChapter 6: Affordances in Practice\u003cbr\u003eChapter 7: Conclusion“\u003ci\u003eHow Artifacts Afford\u003c\/i\u003e is nothing short of magical! Jenny Davis describes what technologies can do in social life. The writing is crisp and clear and the work is groundbreaking. This book will teach—both scholars and students alike—a socially informed framework for thinking about how technologies shape our world, and I predict it will have a field-defining impact.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Gina Neff, Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor, University of Oxford\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eHow Artifacts Afford \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a clarifying survey of the relationship between humans and technologies via the filter of affordance theory. Attentive to detail and always aware of the importance of the mundane, Jenny Davis provides a schematic for understanding how people make, and are made by, objects.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nathan Jurgenson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Social Photo;\u003c\/i\u003e Cofounder and Cochair of the Theorizing the Web Conference; Founder and Editor-in-Chief of \u003ci\u003eReal Life magazine\u003c\/i\u003e; and Sociologist at Snap Inc.\u003c\/b\u003eJenny L. Davis is a sociologist at the Australian National University.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301853253861,"sku":"NP9780262044110","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262044110.jpg?v=1742925294","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/how-artifacts-afford-isbn-9780262044110","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}