Search results for "Affordances"
showing 10 items of 39 documents
A Framework to Explain the Relation Between ICT and Development: Combining Affordances and the Capability Approach
2019
Part 1: Pushing the Boundaries - New Research Methods, Theory and Philosophy in ICT4D; International audience; In this paper, we suggest a framework to better explain the relation between ICT and development. The framework combines two theories: The Capability Approach and Affordances. The capability approach defines development as freedom of choice; and the affordances explains the relational aspects of people and technology. These two theories complement each other by connecting the means (technology) to the ends (development). A case study of ICT and study-circle education in rural areas of Kenya is used to illustrate the framework. Using the framework, the study revealed how actualizati…
Le affordances cognitive e sociali in Internet. Un confronto cross-culturale tra utenti italiani e americani.
2008
Internet può essere descritto come un ambiente caratterizzato da affordances ovvero da “offerte” psico-tecnologiche che amplificano le capacità cognitive e sociali degli utenti. In particolare, i molteplici strumenti informativi del web sono riconducibili alle sue affordances cognitive, laddove quelli più connotati in senso interpersonale (p.e. chat-room) ne costituiscono le affordances sociali. Allo scopo di esplorare l’utilizzo delle suddette affordances in differenti popolazioni, abbiamo condotto un’indagine che confronta un gruppo di italiani ed uno di statunitensi tramite la somministrazione di un questionario online. I risultati indicano che, nonostante la sua più recente introduzione…
The Playful Affordances of Picture Book Apps for Children
2021
The tradition of children’s literature has evolved side by side with the market of children’s entertainment, games, and toys. The selection of contemporary print products includes a wide variety of materially or technologically enhanced picture books. This background is rarely considered in the examination of children’s book applications that have attracted scholarly interest after the arrival of smartphones and tablets during the early 2010s.The relationship between picture book apps, mobile games, and digital playthings requires further examination that considers the specific affordances of the mobile platform. Leaning on five case studies, this article examines how picture book apps affo…
Performing transnational family with the affordances of mobile apps : a case study of Polish mothers living in Finland
2020
Affordances provided by digital technologies and mobile apps (WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger) help in maintaining familyhood. These mobile apps enable the creation of in-app family groups. They also afford image sharing, which is used for phatic purposes. Digital connectivity provides the illusions of togetherness and belonging, and allows for performing family in a transnational context (emotional transnationalism). However, it also generates the feelings of guilt through infrequent communication. In the auto-driven visual elicitation interviews, the study looks at family constellations and technologically mediated communication from the perspective of five Polish mothers living in Finland. Ap…
Examining the longitudinal relationship between visibility and persistence on stress and technology-assisted supplemental work
2023
This study examines the longitudinal relationship between two affordances of organizational information and communication technologies (ICTs)—that is, visibility and persistence—and individuals’ subjective stress and technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW). We propose that visibility and persistence associated with organizational ICTs are often more aptly construed as probabilities for action, rather than merely possibilities for action. The hypotheses are tested using latent change structural equation modeling drawing on two-wave survey data from 437 employees of a global industrial logistics company headquartered in a Nordic country. The findings highlight that visibility is associat…
A holistic perspective on the theoretical foundations for ICT4D research
2018
While many theories have guided research Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), we are yet to construct a clear and coherent narrative that would help us answer the question of how ICT fosters development in underdeveloped communities. In this paper, we argue that one of the main reasons for this is that our holistic understanding of ICT4D is seldom grounded in theories to understand the core areas that define the field, namely, ICT, Development, and, ‘4’ which are the transformative processes that link the two. Through a brief literature review, we list theories that have informed ICT4D research in each of these areas. We present examples of theories, namely, C…
Teachers’ professional agency in a centralisation-decentralisation system and a hierarchical cultural context : the case of Hong Kong
2022
Teachers are frontline actors in actualising educational innovations. In some contexts, teachers’ professional agency is undervalued. This study investigated teachers’ agency and its related workplace affordances in Hong Kong, which features a centralised-decentralisation education governance system, and a hierarchical work culture. The study was based on 21 semi-structured interviews with teachers, and employed a deductive thematic analysis. Agency enactment was categorised into 1) pedagogical agency within classrooms, and 2) relational agency in the professional community. The factors contributing to workplace affordances were grouped as pertaining to 1) the collegial community, 2) school…
Affordances and Agential Realism : A Relational Ontology for a Relational Theory
2018
Relational view of affordance theory has emerged as a viable theory in Information Systems (IS) research to explain variation in IS use. According to this theory, what a specific person can achieve with a technology is neither inherent in the person himself nor on the technology but emerges from their interaction. Despite that such relational view implies relational ontology, the ontological foundations have been insufficiently theorized which limits both its practical and theoretical applicability and explanatory power. In this paper, I suggest that Karen Barad’s relational ontology, known as agential realism, provides coherent and solid foundations for affordances that are especially suit…
Interpersonal dynamics in 2-vs-1 contexts of football: the effects of field location and player roles
2019
This study analyzed the spatial-temporal interactions that sustained 2-vs-1 contexts in football at different field locations near the goal. Fifteen male players (under 15 years, age 13.2 ± 1.03 years, years of practice 4.2 ± 1.10 years), 5 defenders, 7 midfielders, and 3 attackers, participated in the study. Each participant performed a game to simulate a 2-vs-1 sub-phase as a ball carrier, second attacker, and defender at three different field locations, resulting in a total number of 142 trials. The movements of participants in each trial were recorded and digitized with TACTO software. Values of interpersonal distance between the ball carrier and defender and interpersonal angles betwee…
How secondary school pupils bring their informal learning experiences into a Content and Language Integrated (CLIL) classroom
2014
This article explores how students’ informal language learning experiences with English find their way into the formal context of content-based language teaching (CLIL). The analysis is focused on stretches of classroom talk in which native Finnish-speaking students draw on their expertise of English-language popular culture, and use their knowledge as a semiotic resource for producing various types of actions. Based on the data, it is argued that the organisation of peer group talk in the language classroom provides students with affordances for participation that are characteristically different from whole-class interaction. In this environment, global popular culture and conversational h…