The Affordances of Place: Digital Agency and the Lived Spaces of Information

Abstract

Affordances provide a useful frame for understanding how users interact with devices, but applications of the term to digital devices must take into account that human agents operate within a material environment that is distinct from the digital environment in which these devices operate. A more restrictive approach to affordances would focus on the agency of digital devices distinct from the agency of human users. Location-aware mobile devices provide a particularly compelling example of the complex interplay of agents and agencies, and how “augmented affordances” give rise to a lived space of information for human users.