Affordance Theory Research Articles

Discovering the juxtaposed affordances in digitally transformed live streaming e-commerce: A mixed-methods study from a vicarious learning perspective

ABSTRACT Live streaming technologies transform the information processing of customers by changing the way they interact with and acquire information. However, this emerging technological artefact may induce both positive and negative consequences for customer decision making. It is yet unknown what constitutes the dimensions of the juxtaposed IT affordances and how they affect customer behaviours in this new social phenomenon. This paper contributes to IS research by uncovering the specific bright and dark sides of IT affordances in live streaming e-commerce and by explaining the cognitive mechanisms underpinning customer purchase and brand citizenship behaviours. We employed a sequential mixed-methods design to embrace and contextualise the theory of affordance, vicarious learning, and cognitive load to rigorously develop a theoretical framework of the juxtaposed IT affordance in live streaming e-commerce. The results indicate that positive affordances (e.g., interactivity, visibility, and entertainment) have stronger effects on both economic and non-economic value. However, the potential dark side (e.g., broadcasting and source diversity) has more negative effects on purchase intention than brand citizenship behaviour, underscoring the importance of involving customers in co-creating brand-related value in live streaming e-commerce. Our findings contribute considerably to the emerging literature on live streaming e-commerce and provide actionable recommendations for practitioners.

Do Facebook and Google Care about Journalism? Mapping the Relationship between Affordances of GNI and FJP Tools and Journalistic Norms

This study engages in a sociotechnical analysis of Facebook and Google to understand the material means by which these corporations strive to engage journalists vis-à-vis their business models. Through affordance theory, we argue that interfaces of technological artifacts are manifestations of their implicit politics and ideology, given that affordances entail normative claims about what users should do. Our study draws from Google News Initiative and Facebook Journalism Project to explore: how the affordances of FJP and GNI tools allow particular behaviors and encourage certain journalistic norms to emerge? We analyzed nine journalist-oriented tools from FJP and GNI, by performing a discursive interface analysis. Findings indicate that FJP and GNI tools affordances can encourage four distinct journalistic norms: (1) successful journalism should circulate widely on platforms, (2) successful journalism should be aware of the ways competition is measured in FJP and GNI, (3) successful journalism should attract loyal readership as defined by platforms and (4) successful journalism should make money through platforms. We argue that FJP and GNI tools affordances can facilitate a form of platform schooling which, in addition to journalism schools and work environments, can might dictate what is and what is not “successful journalism.”

Collective Action on Facebook and Telegram During the Russia–Ukraine War

Social media have been used for political bottom-up organizing and collective action since at least the Arab Spring protests. Social media provide unique affordances that reduce the costs of collective action facilitating anonymous communication and cooperation at a much larger scale than ever before. The Russian invasion of Ukraine provides multiple examples of social media use for collective action. In this conflict, social media platforms, most prominently Facebook and Telegram have been actively employed by Ukrainians as places for organisation, volunteering and gathering support from a variety of volunteers both inside the country and abroad. After nine months of the war, it can safely be said that volunteering has played a huge role in the resistance to Russian aggression. However, little is known about how collective action has been organised on social media during this conflict. This paper aims to advance knowledge on the subject by focusing on how different forms of collective action have been organized on two widely used platforms: Facebook and Telegram. Based on the qualitative analysis of the profiles engaged in the organisation of collective action on Facebook and Telegram we discuss common features and differences between activists on both platforms. Different approaches to the organisation of pages, groups, and channels (including user engagement, interaction, and reporting) are discussed. The theory of affordances is used as a theoretical lens in analysing how the design of Facebook and Telegram allow and constrain certain types of collective action. The paper aims to contribute to the understanding of online collective action and bottom-up organisation on Facebook and Telegram.

어포던스 이론 기반 초등학교 도서관에서의 아동 행태 특성 연구

(Background) As the society of the future changes, schools are transforming from a place of imparting knowledge to a place of fostering creativity, sociality, and emotion necessary for the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Recently, spatial restructuring projects have been actively promoted in conjunction with the changing curriculum for existing schools. In addition, school libraries are transforming into spaces that support various activities appropriate for future education beyond the main functions of reading and borrowing in the past. (Purpose) Children have less spatial experience than adults and respond immediately to their environment. Therefore, this study aims to suggest affordances and directions be considered in elementary school library space planning that can support various behaviors depending on the environment while promoting children’s emotions. (Method) The school library space was first categorized as a research method based on a literature review, focusing on the affordance theory that induces children’s behavior. Second, children’s behavior observed in the school library was derived into four affordance types. Third, after questioning the derived type, the affordance elements and children’s behaviors that appeared by space were investigated through a survey. (Conclusion) As a result, the affordance was different depending on the type of space. Among the space types, various affordances were derived from the stepped reading space and the space with windows among the spatial components. In addition, children’s preference for spaces that induce these various affordances was the highest.

Explicating affordances in travel information search: investigating device use in relation to goals and personal characteristics

Despite increasing attention to technology development and its impact on travel information search, research about information search behaviours across multiple devices (i.e., smartphones, laptops, tablets, and desktop computers) has received limited attention. Guided by technology affordance theory, this paper examines the link between device use and information search goals, and the relationship between personal characteristics and device use. The study is based on two independent studies. Data were collected using a mixed-methods approach utilising an online survey and an online trip planning diary. The findings revealed that information searchers were essentially multi-device users and switched between devices based on their information search goals. Moreover, personal characteristics such as demographic characteristics, experience and personality influenced device use. The findings of the research shed light on the elusive concept of affordance to enhance the understanding of the complexity of device usage during travel information search.

How commitment and platform adoption drive the e-commerce performance of SMEs: A mixed-method inquiry into e-commerce affordances

To cope with the digital transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, managers of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to adopt innovative practices to face uncertain scenarios and create long-term value, identified as transformational entrepreneurship practices. Among emerging digital technologies, digital platforms are shaping and outgrowing the e-commerce channel representing a potential opportunity for manufacturing SMEs to embrace digital transformation. Drawing on affordance theory, this research uses a mixed method approach to investigate how manufacturing SMEs’ e-commerce commitment and digital platform adoption stimulate the actualization of three e-commerce affordances: consumer knowledge generation, internationalization, and customer diversification. Based on survey responses from 165 manufacturing SME managers, we find that direct selling through owned websites actualizes consumer knowledge generation and internationalization, indirect selling actualizes customer diversification and internationalization, and agency selling through third-party platforms actualizes all three affordances. The relationship between e-commerce commitment and ecommerce performance is mediated by consumer knowledge generation and internationalization but not by customer diversification. A fsQCA analysis outlines seven configurations actualizing these e-commerce affordances by pairing different ecommerce approaches with degrees of e-commerce commitment. Finally, an analysis of open-ended questions from 24 respondents complements the study and deeply interprets the seven unique configurations outlined.

Review of An advanced guide to multilingualism by Larissa Aronin

As a researcher in multilingualism and multilinguality, I always await any new publications by Larissa Aronin. They not only add to our understanding and knowledge of this fascinating field, but also inspire us to look into the various dimensions not yet explored by other researchers. A truly imaginative and inspiring mind, hers has been a significant contribution to models of multiple language acquisition, the theory of affordances (Singleton & Aronin, 2007), and the material culture of multilingualism, not to forget – what I consider to be her biggest and most fascinating area of research – dominant language constellations (Aronin & Vetter, 2021; Lo Bianco & Aronin, 2020,) and also, fairly recently and still at the developmental stage, the philosophy of multilingualism (Aronin & Politis, 2015).

Visual augmentation of deck-landing-ability improves helicopter ship landing decisions

When attempting to land on a ship deck tossed by the sea, helicopter pilots must make sure that the helicopter can develop sufficient lift to be able to safely touchdown. This reminder of affordance theory led us to model and study the affordance of deck-landing-ability, which defines whether it is possible to land safely on a ship deck depending on the helicopter's available lift and the ship’s deck heave movements. Two groups of participants with no piloting experience using a laptop helicopter simulator attempted to land either a low-lifter or a heavy-lifter helicopter on a virtual ship deck by either triggering a pre-programmed lift serving as the descent law if it was deemed possible to land, or aborting the deck-landing maneuver. The deck-landing-ability was manipulated by varying the helicopter's initial altitude and the ship's heave phase between trials. We designed a visual augmentation making visible the deck-landing-ability, and thus enabling participants to maximize the safety of their deck-landing attempts and reduce the number of unsafe deck-landing. The visual augmentation presented here was perceived by participants as a means of facilitating this decision-making process. The benefits were found to have originated from the clear-cut distinction it helped them to make between safe and unsafe deck-landing windows and the display of the optimal time for initiating the landing.

Automatic design and optimization of educational space for autistic children based on deep neural network and affordance theory.

In recent years, the incidence of autistic children has shown rapid growth worldwide. The rapid development of education and rehabilitation institutions for autistic children is of great significance to the rehabilitation of this group. However, the research on indoor space environments and functional facilities for autistic children in China is still in its infancy. Reasonably and effectively, zoning the education and rehabilitation space for autistic children can promote better communication and learning between autistic children and rehabilitation therapists and effectively promote the rehabilitation progress of autistic children. However, the existing education and rehabilitation space for autistic children has some problems, such as unscientific indoor partition, indoor space layouts mainly relying on manual work, heavy workload and low efficiency. Therefore, it is of great research value and practical significance to explore the intuitive design and optimization of the education and rehabilitation space layout for autistic children. This study first evaluates and optimizes the educational space for autistic children based on the affordability theory. Then, this study proposes a layout recommendation algorithm based on deep learning, which is used to improve the layout efficiency of the education and rehabilitation space for autistic children and realize real-time online layout. The scene information is digitized in binary code. The segmentation and layout network models are constructed through bidirectional long short-term memory (LSTM) to discover the long segment pre-segmentation of house type and obtain the layout results. The word embedding algorithm is used to abstract the cross features between each vector segment, and the dimension of the feature matrix is reduced to improve the speed and accuracy of the layout scheme recommendation. The experimental results show that our method can learn the design rules from the data set and has achieved better results than the existing methods. This study provides an adequate theoretical basis and design reference for the research of residential education space for autistic children.

The Formation of the Beginning of Dialogue in Anonymous Online Communication

The main purpose of the article is to track and analyze the correlation of technical and semantic aspects of anonymous interaction on the web. The initial phase of communication between two interlocutors in the “Anonymous VKontakte chat” is empirically investigated. Combining the conceptual and methodological resources of conversational analysis and membership categorization analysis, as well as the theory of affordances adapted to technical objects (in this case, anonymous chat), the author defends the concept of the order of statements of anonymous interlocutors for successful interaction. Most visitors use the chat to search for short-term romantic and/or sexual communication, therefore, at the beginning of the correspondence, the interlocutors often seek to identify each other's gender identity using typical statements. The importance of having the first row is noted, since it is he who, with a high degree of probability, gives the priority right to ask a question about the gender identity of the interlocutor. However, this right does not negate the fact that sooner or later (rather sooner) the owner of the first turn will have to answer the questions of the interlocutor, so the anonymous interaction under consideration, through the communicative efforts of actors organized in the next order, tends to information symmetry.

What influence virtual workers’ communication?: Exploring network inertia and media affordance theories

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has made virtual work more prevalent than ever. Building on the theoretical frameworks of network inertia and media affordances, this paper examines how network characteristics (tie strengths and heterogeneity), and media affordances (persistence and social presence) jointly influence virtual workers’ intention to communicate with colleagues. Data from a U.S. nationally representative sample (N = 389) provided partial support for both theories. Tie strength and social presence had a significant impact on virtual workers’ communication intention. Psychological heterogeneity influenced people’s intention to approach colleagues, but demographic heterogeneity did not. Theoretical and practical contributions were discussed.

How the Internet of Things is reshaping teamwork: An experimental study

As a result of the increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) systems in industrial organizations, the way in which teams are composed is changing. Specifically, forms of collaboration in various working environments are subject to transformation, leading to unstable membership within teams (i.e., fluid teams). Drawing on the theory of affordances, we aim to investigate the relationship between IoT implementation and the prevalence of fluid teams. The results of an experimental vignette study featuring 1001 respondents indicate that (1) the degree of IoT implementation has a highly significant impact on the utility of creating fluid teams and (2) the type of task in question does not moderate this relationship. Our study has relevant theoretical implications fostering an integrated understanding of the interplay of IoT systems and the resulting changes at the team level. In this context, we contribute specifically to improving the understanding of affordance existence and affordance perception, as we consider IoT-specific attributes with respect to their impact at the ‘meso’ level.

The Affordances of the Translator

This article explores affordance-theoretical readings of Walter Benjamin’s “Task of the Translator,” looking first at Aleksei Procyshyn’s mobilization of Anthony Chemero’s “radical embodied cognitive science” approach to affordances, in which, as Procyshyn summarizes it, “language use is an enactive process of meaning creation, which affords an appropriately situated and capable agent specific potentials for further action.” A closer look shows not only that Procyshyn has not drawn on the full potential of Chemero’s theorization, but that Chemero himself has not developed a 4EA-cogsci affordance theory fully—and that the application of affordance theory to Benjamin ultimately doesn’t work without a complex reframing of both Benjamin and affordance theory. Specifically, toward the end of Benjamin’s essay he moves toward a more personalized understanding of human translators as situated agents—notably Friedrich Hölderlin, but also Martin Luther, Johann Heinrich Voß, A. W. Schlegel, and Stefan George—and another pass through Wilhelm Dilthey’s hermeneutical theory of the Zusammenhang des Lebens (“nexus/intertwining of life”), which Benjamin invokes by name, helps flesh out both an affordance theory of translation and an extended application to Hölderlin’s Sophocles translations. The historical chain from Dilthey through Husserl and Merleau-Ponty to Varela, Thompson, and Rosch’s The Embodied Mind ties hermeneutics, phenomenology, and 4EA cognitive science together under the rubric of the affordances of the translator.

A Transdisciplinary Framework to Unlock the Potential Benefits of Green Spaces for Urban Communities Under Changing Contexts.

New urban models increasingly seek to create more sustainable, livable, and healthier cities by reinvigorating green space. In this article, we highlight and briefly review several main but disconnected areas of study in which the factors that frame human-environment interactions and therefore also influence the potential well-being outcomes of those interactions are studied. We then use the intersection of affordance theory and socio-institutional programming to provide a conceptual framework that ties together these spheres of research, and we discuss some critical keys for enabling different positive green space experiences. Urban communities are not homogeneous, and accounting for the intersection between individual differences and landscape programming opens up more diverse pathways for affording positive human-environment interactions and different well-being outcomes.

Live streaming recommendations based on dynamic representation learning

As an emerging form of social media, live streaming services (e.g., Twitch and Clubhouse) allow users to interact with hosts and peers in real time while enjoying shows or participating in discussions. These platforms are also dynamic, with shows or discussions changing quickly inside a room and users frequently switching between rooms. To improve user engagement and experience on such platforms, we design a new recommendation model named Dynamic Representations for Live Streaming Rooms (DRIVER) to provide room recommendations. Guided by the Integrated Framework for Consumer Path Modeling and the social affordance theory, DRIVER infers dynamic representations of live streaming rooms by leveraging users’ behavior paths in entering, staying in, and leaving rooms. One contribution of our model is a new and efficient dynamic learning framework to model instantaneous and ever-changing inter-room relationships by considering individual users’ behavior paths after leaving a room. Also supported by social affordance theory, another methodological novelty of our model is to capture dynamic characteristics of a room by incorporating features of the current audience inside the room. Experiments on real-world datasets from two different types of live streaming platforms demonstrate that DRIVER outperforms state-of-the-art representation learning methods and sequential recommender systems. The proposed method also has implications for recommender system design in other contexts, in which items are characterized by users’ dynamic behavior paths and ongoing social interactions.

Technology Affordances for Enhancing Job Performance in Digital Work

ABSTRACT The increasing use of digital technologies leads to more contingent, flexible, and distributed work arrangements between individuals and organizations, resulting in wide adoption of digital work. This makes understanding the impact of digital technologies on job performance critical. This study investigates the affordance of digital technologies for enhancing job performance in digital work. A technology affordance theory-based model is tested and validated through structural equation modeling of the collected survey data. The study shows that using digital technologies can enhance job performance through improved coordination, communication, knowledge sharing, and decision-making. This study is the first in applying the technology affordance theory for exploring the role of digital technologies in job performance in digital work. The findings can lead to better formulated strategies and policies to facilitate digital technology use.

The Building That Teaches: Exploring Augmented Reality Affordances in Academic Incubators

Efforts to enhance the experience of interior environments have led to experimentation with augmented reality (AR) technology to encourage users to participate in the built space using their mobile devices. To investigate the role of AR technologies in interior design experiences, we highlight the interdisciplinary design of a mobile AR-application to assess and enhance the effectiveness of building design strategies for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-Gold academic incubator. Drawing on user feedback data, observations, and in-depth interviews of 15 building occupants, we identified the affordances of mobile-AR for interior design. Our findings suggest approaches for contextualizing post-occupancy user feedback and interior design across the digital-physical spatial continuum and illustrate how AR has the potential to expand the goals of post-occupancy evaluations, beyond improved evaluation to enhancement, by allowing the building to teach occupants about resources while nudging them to utilize spatial features designed to enhance wellness. As hybrid interior environments are becoming more dependent on a convergence of the digital and physical, we found a series of strategies and practices for enhancing user experiences. A key contribution of our research is a framework, grounded in affordance theory, useful for designing and examining hybrid spaces at the intersection of AR and interior design.

Integration of Graphic Design Thinking Assessment Tools for 21st Century

21st Century of quality education involves multiple facets, nevertheless it shouldn’t limit to content knowledge while learning skill development such as thinking skill, communication and creativity have to be the emphasis. P21 framework [1] have been addressed to the educators without offering any effective instructional formulae to achieve those upgraded objectives. To propose a revised graphic design instructional framework that places emphasis on competency, it would be helpful to analyze the current Malaysian educational approaches to match the new generation of learning trends. This paper suggests that the flexibility and multiple dimensions of assessments in graphic design learning should be taken into consideration in proposing a revised graphic design instructional framework. An updated instruction framework has been introduced to focus on learners’ creativity, ownership, and real-world problem-solving skills, as well as the ability to communicate and collaborate. Giridharan’s [2] report suggested that there is a necessity to update graphic design curriculum to prepare the students for upcoming challenges, especially in the era of IR 4.0. Indeed, today’s education should measure how much one has learned through ownership instead of how much knowledge one has gained. In encouraging graphic design pedagogy to be more inclusive, a newly revised teaching instructional framework is proposed to stimulate active learning as well as thinking skills embedded in the learning experience. Integrated Creative Activity Instruction (ICAI) is the recommended solution for the next generation of graphic design learning with problem-based learning as a key vehicle. ICAI framework was developed and designed based on James Gibson’s [3] Affordance Theory and Robert Marzano’s [4]. New Thinking taxonomy It is imperative to implement new ICAI pedagogy to infuse creative and critical thinking into the course curriculum to produce graduates who will be in line with the industry and professional demands. There are three stages in this research study, needs analysis, pilot test, and ICAI evaluation stage. The final phase of ICAI evaluation has proven that the newly proposed framework can stimulate the academic performance of average and low achievers for better learning satisfaction and creativity development in a graphic design context. Research findings have proven that high creativity is parallel with higher learning satisfaction and performance in graphic design learning. To ensure graphic designer professionalism align with the digital economy, the finding of this study encompass the importance of creativity development and thinking skills in producing future graphic design graduates with high competency in solving real world problems.

Research on Interactive Design of Intangible Cultural Heritage from the Perspective of Affordances Take Jiang Mu" APP as an Example

From the perspective of affordances, this paper explores the interactive design method of intangible cultural heritage, taking Jiang Mu APP as an example to demonstrate the core point of the research. This paper analyzes the affordances characteristics of intangible cultural heritage from three aspects, promotes the dissemination and inheritance of traditional culture by enhancing users' experience and feelings, and further discusses the Jiang Mu APP", and explores the practical application of the affordances theory in the interactive design of intangible cultural heritage from the perspective of experience, behavior and cultural dissemination, so as to provide new ideas and ways for the interactive design method of intangible cultural heritage, and promote the form and future development trend of digital dissemination of intangible cultural heritage.

An analysis of the application of affordance theory in new media advertising-- Take interactive advertising as an example

In this 21st century full of opportunities and challenges, revolutionaries with forward-looking visions are breaking the limitations of traditional media in advertising and various fields, actively exploring and pursuing innovation and expansion. And while traditional media cannot fully meet the needs of society at large, new media advertising is developing rapidly yet still has many limitations, but advertising creativity should not be limited on the box. Under the general conditions of the rapid development of the times, the study of affordance theory for new media interactive advertising can make innovations and suggestions.