(27/07/2018)

In this week’s class, we explored the common misconceptions of physical affordances and perceived affordances. To be frank, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing and how they simultaneously mean different things but one ceases to exist without the other, so not sure if this post is going to make any sense but THAT’S OKAY.

OKAY SO- The two readings assigned to us this week; ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ by Donald A. Norman and his essay entitled ‘Affordance, Conventions and Design (Part 2)’, not only explained the difference between a physical affordance and a perceived affordance, it additionally discusses conventions and constraints; both playing a major part in one’s understanding of utilising everyday things.

 

“When you first see something you have never seen before, how do you know what to do?” (Jnd.org, 2018) 

This quote really stuck out to me because it got me thinking about the countless of times I’ve been faced with a new product I’ve never previously interacted with but instantly knew how to operate it. This directly correlates with the constraints and conventions as discussed by Norman.

Utilising Instagram as an example, the application heavily relies on the assumption that consumers; both new and old are familiar with cultural conventions. To make their interface seamless and minimalistic, each tool and function is illustrated with known cultural symbols.

A few examples of this include:

• The paper aeroplane sign = DM’s
• Love heart icon = liking a picture
• Magnifying glass = search feature

As stated by Norman, designs are only successful if they provide “natural signals so they are naturally interpreted” by its’ consumers. (Norman, 2013)

Moving on to affordances and perceived affordances and how they work together-

The ability to click around the screen is an affordance but, the mere act of being able to click on the like button isn’t much use to a consumer if it failed to provide a meaningful and known outcome. The icons and buttons on show within the app are perceived affordances as consumers afford to click on in order to react to a photo and successfully evoke an end result.

Relating it to the class prompt, We can say that the ability to edit your photos with filters prior to posting a photo is a perceived affordance as it wasn’t something that was there from the very beginning. Over time, the application of Instagram evolved; thus the introduction of filters and the ability to edit prior to posting.

 

(Sorry for this incredibly disjointed mess of a post lmaooooo)

References

• Jnd.org. (2018). Don Norman’s jnd.org / Affordance, Conventions and Design (Part 2). [online] Available at: https://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordance_conv.html [Accessed 27 Jul. 2018].
• Norman, D. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

(24/07/2018)

Previous to being apart of the Networked Media class, my opinion of blogging was pretty limited. If I’m being completely honest, I thought the term ‘blogging’ was very old school and that they were exclusively owned by suburban housewives or free-spirited ‘yogis’ who have quit their 9-5 jobs to travel around the world to discover the true meaning of life (think Eat, Pray, Love). I never considered blogging to be something that was still relevant in this day and age, so it baffled me that RMIT offered an elective that exclusively explores the process of authoring, publishing and distributing a blog.

As a third year Public Relations student, I believed that this particular elective could have cultivated my writing skills, in which I could apply to the countless of press releases and pitches I will be writing when I enter the working world.

The similarities between Instagram and blogging was consistently being raised in class and at first thought, I was kinda like…

How could such a modern-day social media platform have anything to do with an old-school concept like blogging? The reading assigned to week one coerced me to view blogging under a different light and how it’s a term that can be used to describe what happens when we post on Instagram.

‘Blogs in Media Education: A beginning’ by Adrian Miles describes blogs to be a “web-based publication” that allows a record of an individual’s “ideas, reflections and activities”. Miles also describes blogs to be a “public document, and it is written with the assumption that it has readers.” (Miles, 2006)

This could easily be used to describe the mechanics and functions of Instagram and how it’s used by its consumers. I utilise my Instagram feed to reflect who I am as a person and showcase the places I’ve seen and the experiences I’ve gotten the chance to encounter. I am aware that with every picture I post, an audience will be able to view it, which definitely dictates what I choose to publicly display and omit. It isn’t a private forum for my eyes only; much like this blog. Even as I’m typing this, I’m very much aware and conscious of what I’m saying, as I know it’ll be viewed by strangers whom I’ve never met before.

To wrap things up, I’m definitely interested in diving deeper into the course, as we explore the mechanics of blogging as a modern-day teaching tool.

References

• Miles, A. (2006). Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning.