9/23 Affordances questions

"an action possibility available in the environment to an individual, independent of the individual's ability to perceive this possibility"

How do  you understand this definition/description of affordance? Please put into your own words.

• Affordances are created by the relationship between people and objects. Affordances are the possible actions/uses of the objects in relation to the person. ex. A chair and person. The person can sit in the chair, the person can throw the chair. This action is not an intrinsic property of either the chair or the person. 

What if anything may or may not be problematic about this interpretation of the notion of affordances?

• The issue with this is that oftentimes the perceived affordances created by such an encounter do not line up with the actual affordances. 

Get into your groups and answer the following questions

Pick three aspects/environmental conditions of this room or the third floor of FAC. Describe each of these aspects as an affordance.

1. Door: affords opening, slamming a hand in it, closing
2. computer: affords use, turning on, turning off, accessing the internet, using software
3. chair: affords sitting, rolling, riding, throwing, use as blunt object

What activity is implied by the material? What sorts of sensory input does this  condition/object offer the user?

1. the door is hard. it implies strength, barrier. it feels has, the handle is cold, metal.
2. smooth, screen that is fragile. it is for viewing not touching. It affords being thrown, but that is not the assumed affordance. 
3. Chair is soft, can sit on it for hours. It is a leisure object. The plastic/metal of the frame elevates the user from the ground. It affords movement.  

One way of doing this might be able to put yourself in the place of an alien. What about the object or condition compels you to act upon it in a particular way?

1. Touching the frame and knob to operate it.
2. The screen is bright to be able to see the what's on the screen. But you would use the keyboard and mouse to operate the computer which is included with computer.
3. Shaped as a seated figure. This one rolls(moves), so it can be used for short distance traveling down the hall or within the room.

What do you think is the difference between usefulness and utility with respect to affordances?

• An object that's useful can be used everyday, e.i. practical. A utility can be useful, but goes beyond it's intended purpose.

What might be a false affordance? Create a situation other than that of the cat on the glass floor who is afraid to walk because the glass is transparent and there is a drop in floor? Think about how zoos keep animals in w/o cages or slapstick comedy.

• Something that was perceived to afford one thing, when it doesn't. A person trying to walk through a glass door, colliding with it and being injured because the glass was transparent and what looked like an open door was not.
• Someone mistaking a tube of hemorrhoid cream for toothpaste.

Are we aware of all of the affordances of an object or a condition?  Do you think affordances are cultural? Are they different for people with disabilities?

• No, some affordances are hidden. Some affordances are cultural. Yes.

Draw parallels between the idea of affordances and intentionality and art. What is the relationship between metaphor and affordances? I think this might be worth thinking about this.

• Affordances that can be perceived visually and intentionally can be known, as in Art, intentionality lets the viewer know that an addition to a painting or photo/video are intentional. 
• Metaphor makes sense because we draw parallels in the affordances created in two separate situations. 

What might be the connection between affordance and evolution?

• Affordances are developed as we interact with our environment. We evolve in ways that allow a greater range of affordances with our environment. e.g.the use of tools, and eventually the use of tools to create greater and more complex tools with even greater affordances.

What is the difference between a niche and a habitat? Explain in your own words and give an example of each. What is your niche?

• A niche is a role, a habitat is usually a physical location. Our niche is "student" our habitat is college. 

An affordance cuts the dichotomy of subjective and objective and helps us to understand its inadequacy. The affordances of the environment are facts of the environment, not appearances. But they are not on the other hand, facts at the level of physics concerned with matter and energy and animals left out.


IMPORTANT EDIT:

THIS IS AN EGGPANT. LOOK AT THE TINY MUTATION. THE LITTLE HOLE.

THAT HOLE AFFORDS SOMETHING.

IT AFFORDS THE ATTACHING OF A PHONE STRAP.