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DDQ WED 2023-01-11

2. Affordances, Signifiers & Design Fails

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

—Steve Jobs

2.1. Agenda

Released	Category	Assignment	Day	Date
2023-01-10	Term Project	Milestone 0: IRB Training	FRI	2023-01-20
2023-01-19	Paper Pres.	Register a Presentation Date	THU	2023-01-26
2023-01-19	Term Project	Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 1)	FRI	2023-01-27
2023-01-19	Paper Pres.	Pick a Paper	THU	2023-02-09
2023-01-19	Term Project	Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 2)	FRI	2023-02-10
2023-02-07	Exams	Prepare for Exam 1 Quiz	FRI	2023-02-10
2023-02-07	Exams	Exam 1	TUE	2023-02-14
2023-02-16	Term Project	Milestone 2: Definition & Related Work	FRI	2023-03-17
2023-03-20	Term Project	Milestone 3: Design Alternatives	FRI	2023-04-14
2023-03-28	Exams	Prepare for Exam 2 Quiz	FRI	2023-04-21
2023-03-28	Exams	Exam 2	THU	2023-04-27
2023-03-28	Term Project	Milestone 4: Prototyping & Testing	TUE	2023-05-09

1. General Announcements

   • The full text for DOET [TB:1] is available via the UGA library!

   • Milestone 0: IRB Training requires you to complete all the modules in the Social & Behavioral Research training course – see the assignment page for more details.

   • The UGA SoC is hosting a faculty candidate colloqium today from 1:40PM – 2:40PM in Boyd 306.

     • Candidate: Sidi Lu, PhD candidate at Wayne State University (WSU)

     • Presentation Title: Toward Reliable, Scalable, and Efficient Edge-enabled Applications for Connected Vehicles

     • Announcement: sidi-lu-talk-2023-01-11.pdf

2. Slides

3. Activity

2.2. Activity

2.2.1. Introduction

Duration: \(\sim\) 5 minutes

The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment.

—James J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1967)

anti-affordance

A relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent that can result in the prevention of interaction.

design fail

A design that is low value or that destroys value.

Example

2.2.2. Breakout Groups

Duration: \(\sim\) 20 minutes

Important: Randomize!

Exposure to different perspectives is critical when it comes to understanding several topics in HCI. For this activity, please form random groups of 4–5 members. This may require you to move to another seat.

1. Quickly introduce yourselves to each other, if you don’t already know each other.

2. Pick a group representative. This person will be responsible for posting your breakout group’s response on Piazza before breakout group work ends for this activity.

3. Find a design fail that your group likes, then help your group representative respond to the following in a followup discussion to Piazza @12.

   Important

   It should go without saying, but please keep it mostly safe for school/work.

   1. List the full names of your breakout group members in the following format:

      Group: Name1, Name2, etc.
      

   2. Include a picture of the design fail, and briefly describe the product or system (e.g., it’s a kitchen cabinet).

   3. List the following for the product or system using the definitions provided in DOET:

      1. properties,

      2. affordances, and

      3. signifiers.

   4. What exactly failed? Be sure to frame your answer using elements from (b) and (c).

   5. As a group, look at and reply to the posts that other groups made.

2.2.3. After Breakout Groups

Duration: TBD

1. Look at some of the Piazza posts as a class.

2.2.4. After Class

1. Before the next class period, individually comment on another group’s post by replying to their followup discussion in Piazza @12.

2. Continue reading the Foundations module and familiarize yourself with the vocabulary. We will have our first DDQ based on course content on Monday!

3. Here is a list of current assignments:

   Released	Category	Assignment	Day	Date
   2023-01-10	Term Project	Milestone 0: IRB Training	FRI	2023-01-20
   2023-01-19	Paper Pres.	Register a Presentation Date	THU	2023-01-26
   2023-01-19	Term Project	Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 1)	FRI	2023-01-27
   2023-01-19	Paper Pres.	Pick a Paper	THU	2023-02-09
   2023-01-19	Term Project	Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 2)	FRI	2023-02-10
   2023-02-07	Exams	Prepare for Exam 1 Quiz	FRI	2023-02-10
   2023-02-07	Exams	Exam 1	TUE	2023-02-14
   2023-02-16	Term Project	Milestone 2: Definition & Related Work	FRI	2023-03-17
   2023-03-20	Term Project	Milestone 3: Design Alternatives	FRI	2023-04-14
   2023-03-28	Exams	Prepare for Exam 2 Quiz	FRI	2023-04-21
   2023-03-28	Exams	Exam 2	THU	2023-04-27
   2023-03-28	Term Project	Milestone 4: Prototyping & Testing	TUE	2023-05-09