AFFORDANCES FOR INTERACTION: THE SOCIAL IS MATERIAL FOR DESIGN

Gaver, William. 1996. AFFORDANCES FOR INTERACTION: THE SOCIAL IS MATERIAL FOR DESIGN. Ecological Psychology, 8(2), pp. 111-129. ISSN 1040-7413 [Article]

No full text available

Abstract or Description

ABSTRACT
In this article, I explore an ecological approach to social interaction, using the concept of affordances to describe material properties of the environment that affect how people interact. My examples come mainly from the design of technologies that support collaboration. The physical properties of paper and electronic media - for instance electronic mail or video communication system - affects how they can be used and how people can use them to interact. Many of these effects are due to differences in the degree to which the media afford prediction and exploration. Because they are based on material properties, these affordances run deep, and trying to design against their grain is not easy. Difficulties of design, however, can shed light on subtleties o f interaction that might otherwise be overlooked. Thus design is both guided by, and can guide, an ecological approach to social interaction. Nonetheless, design is only one example of the wide range of issues an ecological approach to social behaviour might address. Such an approach may provide as fundamental a challenge to existing perspectives on social interaction as it has to traditional theories of perception.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326969eco0802_2

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Design
Design > Interaction Research Studio

Dates:

DateEvent
1996Published

Item ID:

15111

Date Deposited:

29 Nov 2015 21:56

Last Modified:

20 Jun 2017 13:58

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/15111

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)