Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Researching Affordances

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Second International Handbook of Internet Research

Abstract

In an age of profound technological changes, the concept of affordances has assumed a prominent position in the vocabulary scholars use to describe and analyze current transformations. Affordances is a concept that is subject to continuous developments and renegotiations through the scholarly conversation, even if the conceptual core of it (that it relates to the possibilities for action that an environment or artifact offer a living being) remains stable. This chapter provides a conceptual overview and discussion of the concept of affordances, outlining the most important positions and developments in its history. Furthermore, the chapter proposes a methodological procedure for measuring quantitatively the use of affordances; this way, it suggests to broaden the scholarly focus on affordances beyond situated qualitative cases to also pay an interest to the use of affordances across larger samples of communicative, organizational, or institutional contexts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 599.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bardoel J, Deuze M (2001) Network journalism: converging competences of media professionals and professionalism. Aust J Rev 23(2):91–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Baym NK (2010) Personal connections in the digital age. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Berelson B (1954) Content analysis. In: Lindzey G (ed) Handbook of social psychology, volume I: theory and method. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Brügger N (2002) Theoretical reflections on media and media history. In: Brügger N, Kolstrup S (eds) Media history. theories, methods, analysis. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan M (2013) Mobile phones and the good life: examining the relationships among mobile use, social capital and subjective well-being. New Media Soc 17(1):96–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444813516836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chemero A (2003) An outline of a theory of affordances. Ecol Psychol 15(2):181–195. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326969ECO1502_5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Churchill D, Churchill N (2008) Educational affordances of PDAs: a study of a teacher’s exploration of this technology. Comput Educ 50(4):1439–1450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.01.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deuze M (2003) The web and its journalisms: considering the consequences of different types of newsmedia online. New Media Soc 5(2):203–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deuze M (2004) What is multimedia journalism? Journal Stud 5(2):139–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Domingo D (2005) The difficult shift from utopia to realism in the Internet era. A decade of online journalism research: theories, methodologies, results and challenges. Presented at the first European communication conference

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubber A (2013) Radio in the digital age. Polity, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Engebretsen M (2006) Shallow and static or deep and dynamic? Nord Rev 27(1):3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnemann NO (2005) The cultural grammar of the internet. In: Jensen KB (ed) Interface://culture – the world wide web as political resource and aesthetic form. Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg, pp 52–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson JJ (1977) The theory of affordances. In: Shaw R, Bransford J (eds) Perceiving, acting, and knowing. Towards an ecological psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, pp 67–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson JJ (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Graves L (2007) The affordances of blogging. J Commun Inq 31(4):331–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859907305446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall J (2001) Online journalism. A critical primer. Pluto Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern D, Gibbs J (2013) Social media as a catalyst for online deliberation? Exploring the affordances of Facebook and YouTube for political expression. Comput Hum Behav 29(3):1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.10.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartley JM (2012) Nyheder på internettet. Handelshøjskolens Forlag, København

    Google Scholar 

  • Have I, Pedersen BS (2013) Sonic mediatization of the book: affordances of the audiobook. MedieKultur 54:123–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Helles R (2009) Personlige medier i hverdagslivet. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Helles R (2013) Mobile communication and intermediality. Mobile Media & Commun 1(1):14–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157912459496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchby I (2001a) Conversation and technology. From the telephone to the internet. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchby I (2001b) Technologies, texts and affordances. Sociology 35(2):441–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen KB, Helles R (2005) “Who do you think we are?” A content analysis of websites as participatory resources for politics, business, and civil society. In: Jensen KB (ed) Interface://culture – the world wide web as political resource and aesthetic form. Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Kammer A (2013) News on the web: instantaneity, multimodality, interactivity, and hypertextuality on Danish news websites. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie D, Wajcman J (1999) Introductory essay: the social shaping of technology. In: MacKenzie D, Wajcman J (eds) The social shaping of technology, 2nd edn. Open University Press, Maidenhead

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagy P, Neff G (2015) Imagined affordance: reconstructing a keyword for communication theory. Social Media Soc 1(2):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115603385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newhagen JE, Rafaeli S (1996) Why communication researchers should study the internet: a dialogue. J Commun 46(1):4–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01458.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norman DA (1988) The design of everyday things. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman DA (1999) Affordance, conventions, & design. Interactions 6(3):38–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinch TJ, Bijker WE (1984) The social construction of facts and artefacts: or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Soc Stud Sci 14(3):399–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rappert B (2003) Technologies, texts and possibilities: a reply to Hutchby. Sociology 37(3):565–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid FJM, Reid DJ (2010) The expressive and conversational affordances of mobile messaging. Behav Inform Technol 29(1):3–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290701497079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salaverría R (2005) An immature medium. Strengths and weaknesses of online newspapers on September 11. Gazette 67(1):69–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonsen TM (2011) Categorising YouTube. MedieKultur 51:72–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Steensen S (2011) Online journalism and the promises of new technology. A critical review and look ahead. J Stud 12(3):311–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson J (2007) The culture of speed. The coming of immediacy. Sage Publications, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  • Zamith F (2008) A methodological proposal to analyze the news websites use of the potentialities of the Internet. Presented at the 9th international symposium on online journalism. Retrieved from http://online.journalism.utexas.edu/2008/papers/Zamith.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Aske Kammer

Authors
  1. Aske Kammer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aske Kammer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Jeremy Hunsinger

  2. Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia

    Matthew M. Allen

  3. IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lisbeth Klastrup

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature B.V.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Kammer, A. (2020). Researching Affordances. In: Hunsinger, J., Allen, M., Klastrup, L. (eds) Second International Handbook of Internet Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1555-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation