What is Affordances

Making available profitable spaces in which learners can interact in ways that meet their needs.

The qualities or properties of a game/tool that define its use or purpose as they are perceived on the way users see and experience the game/tool.

The practices or actions mediated through use of digital tools, for example, how tools serve to connect people or foster access to information.

Mostly visual feedback of a designed system or solution that advertises the possibilities of the system.

Features of an object, interface, or application that indicate what can be done or accomplished by using the object.

Features of the environment that suggest action. Elements in the learning environment that afford positive student progress.

The possibilities for action in the environment as co-defined by an organism’s perceptual detection systems (e.g., sight, smell, taste, hearing, proprioception) and mediated by the organism’s existing and emerging goals.

Features of the environment that suggest action: elements in the learning environment that afford positive student progress.

The characteristics of the learning environment that provide, or afford , the opportunity for action and engagement.

Specific characteristics of a media technology which are conducive to specific social activities.

the experiences that are allowed by the use of a technology product, for example, in virtual environments an affordance is that avatars can communicate through text or voice

What the environment, design object, interior space or building offers the individual as potential for action. Affordances can be related to possibilities of interaction between bodies and objects and also between bodies, adding a social dimension.

According to Gibson (1986), “the affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill” (p. 127). With respect to MMOGs, affordances are most closely related to the rules and systems in place that allow users to interact with the game environment and each other. MMOGs are interesting in that they typically present unconstrained sets of affordances in terms of geographic motion and interaction.

The quality or property of a material that defines its possible uses or clarifies how it should be used. In children’s play, affordances are often explored in objects as children create meaning in their environment.

The possibilities of particular media or modes for conveying meaning in specific ways.

Things in the environment that enable cognitive functions such as perception.

Describe a medium’s capacity for tasks enabled through its message transport.

The features of a platform (including permanence, editability, associations, and visibility) that make one platform more ideal in comparison to others for certain types of social situations or interactions. (Also referred to as social media affordances and technological affordances.)

The perceived and actual properties of an object that enable individuals to take action.

The underlying properties (e.g., synchronicity) of communication channels.

“Affordance” refers to the perceived and actual properties of a thing, primarily those functional properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used. It originates from work on Gibson in the 1970s and has been used in relation to technological affordances in the last decade or so.

Features of an environment or artifact that “afford” or permit certain behaviors.

Actionable opportunities in one’s environment. Psychologist J.J. Gibson coined this term in 1977 and stresses that affordances are limited both by physics (wishful thinking is not enough), and by an agent’s ability to recognize available opportunities for action. For instance, a stone can only be used as a weapon if one recognizes that prospect and can wield it accordingly.

Features of an environment or artifact that “afford” or permit certain behaviors.

Are qualities of an object or an environment which allows an individual or a community of practice to perform an action. For instance, authentic education affords reflecting and engaging.

The concept, initially proposed by J. Gibson, relates to the functional properties of an object, which allows it to be used in a certain environment. Affordances can be positive or negative characteristics that occur between subjects and objects. In education, the term relates to educational interventions and to students learning characteristics.

“The perceived properties of the things that determine just how they could possibly be used” (Norman 1998 AU49: The in-text citation "Norman 1998" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).

The perceived benefits of a particular technology.

The resources specific to a mode or form of technology that are used in the creation of a text and for meaning making.

Attributes or features of a designed object that enable humans in some way.

The term ‘affordances’ has its origins in Psychology, “the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used” (Norman, 2002, p. 9). The term was coined by a perceptual Psychologist, J. J. Gibson (Norman, 1999). However, Norman pushed the notion of affordance beyond properties into experiences, noting affordances have a historical basis—users know what to do with things because they have used them before—they know to turn a knob or push on a door plate (Norman, 2002). Norman’s contribution was in setting out perceived affordances. In product design, Norman notes that there are both real and perceived affordances, but these need not be the same (Norman, 1999). There is a perception of what is possible which is different from what is actually possible. In screen based interfaces, he notes interface designers primarily control only perceived affordances (op. cit.). The physical affordances of the computer, screen, keyboard and mouse are already built in. There are differences between real affordances and perceived affordances on the screen. Real affordances may not have a visual presence, and perceived affordances sometimes do not support real affordances. Norman (1999) also suggests that designers often confuse the notion of affordances with conventions or constraints. He contends that virtual worlds are often more about constraints and conventions, and the physical world more about affordance. He suggests there are three kinds of constraints on behaviour: physical, logical and cultural. Physical constraints are related to real affordances—you cannot move a cursor outside a screen. Logical constraints involve reasoning to determine alternatives. It is how users know to scroll down to see the rest of the page. Cultural constraints are conventions shared by a group. They are cultural and learned conventions, such as dragging the scroll bar down with a cursor which changes shape on the scroll bar, to see the bottom of the page. But the system does not have to be designed in this way. Conventions are constraints that prohibit some activities and encourage others, affordances concern the range of possible actions and relate to properties of the world. Physical constraints cannot be overcome, but logical and cultural constraints can be ignored. Conventions evolve and require a ‘community of practice’ to be adopted (op. cit.) and are artificial and learned, with learning them helping us to master everyday life.

Features of the environment that suggest action: elements in the learning environment that afford positive student progress.

Describe a medium’s capacity for tasks enabled through its message transport.

The ways that technologies can be used that go beyond previously used technologies. An example is using iPads to create video book reports.

Solicitations of use and movement that an environment offers a specific subject.

The features of a technology that anticipate paths of action, shape people conduct and make some usages more relevant than others.

The specific features of a digital tool, allowing for different uses (in the context of this research, pedagogical uses).