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The majority of geographical profiling research focuses on the relationship between offender and location, which works particularly well when a burial site is known. In real-world investigations, however, burial or dump sites are often not known. The aim of the current paper is to outline a relatively under-used method of geographic profiling: Winthropping. While the method has been around for several decades, few studies have provided any research findings using it. There are two likely reasons for Winthropping being under-used: first, it has not been clearly, theoretically explained; second, given its relative novelty, it may not be immediately clear how to use it in research and real-world scenarios. The current paper outlines several key psychological (e.g., satisficing and affordances) and criminological (e.g., rational choice theory and crime geometry) theories that may explain why Winthropping works. Case studies are provided, and a methodological approach (matrix forecasting) is then provided to show how it could work in research practice and real-world applications. Overall, Winthropping is deemed to be highly useful, and it is hoped that experts in the field will begin developing this tool for wider, applied use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two recent papers, I introduced the idea of embodied Rilkean movement knowledge and perception into the current philosophical debate on sports knowledge. In this paper, I offer a new analysis of how embodied movement knowledge and perception help us to identify and define movement consciousness. I develop a phenomenological account of embodied movement consciousness and show how it is closely linked to self-consciousness by generating anticipations and affordances that implicate pre-reflective self-awareness. I also expand Rowlands' Rilkean memory notion to include affective phenomenological properties that rely on the constitutive fault-lines between bodily material sensations and the ingrained recollections they are based on. From this perspective, embodied movement consciousness comprises empirical sensations that phenomenologically unfold as physical acts grounded in materiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss two issues: the nature of live music performance and the shape of live music careers. In both cases my concern is with how musicians make choices. My argument is that such choices are not made freely but should be understood, rather, as a response to constraints and opportunities. In the first part of the essay I suggest that the interest and pleasure of a live concert lies not just in what we hear but equally in what we see: performing gestures which signify musical decision making. I consider how musicians indicate different kinds of motivation: entertainment, self-expression, formal discipline, attentive listening, the exploration of feeling. And I discuss the social and material constraints involved in the choice of musical instruments and performing colleagues. In the second part of the paper I focus on musical careers and critique analytic and common sense attempts to confine music-makers to specific genres. I argue that musical careers are essentially accidental and fluid, the result of particular local conditions and opportunities. It is from this perspective that I describe musicians as ordinary. Music-making must be understood in terms of everyday life and the musical role of such institutions as families, churches, education, the military and holidays. What makes musicians extraordinary is not who they are but what they do and how they use their opportunities. We should admire successful musicians not for their integrity but for their opportunism, a term that needs rescuing from its negative overtones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, growing interest is shown in Technology-aided formative assessment (TAFA) and language learning. Research has shed light on the experimentation and effectiveness of various TAFA tools, focusing on their pedagogical advantages in assisting the teaching of particular linguistic skills (reading, writing, spelling, etc.). Taking an ecological perspective, this paper reports on an ethnographic case study on the various affordances perceived by a group of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who used a learning management system "designed for Formative assessment (FA) purposes" in China. Data from interviews, teacher journals, and EFL classrooms are collected. Thematic coding of interview data shows that the platform offers a wide range of pedagogical, managerial, assessment, social, and developmental affordances for the EFL teachers, with experienced teachers in FA reporting better affordances both in quality and in quantity. This paper further proposes a model to understand how TAFA can be designed in a way that fosters EFL teaching and student learning. Implications for designing TAFA and future studies are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this conceptual analysis contribution to the special issue on radical embodied cognition, we discuss how embodied cognition can exist with and without representations. We explore this concept through the lens of judgment and decision-making in sports (JDMS). Embodied cognition has featured in many investigations of human behavior, but no single approach has emerged. Indeed, the very definitions of the concepts "embodiment" and "cognition" lack consensus, and consequently the degree of "radicalism" is not universally defined, either. In this paper, we address JDMS not from a rigid theoretical perspective but from two embodied cognition approaches: one that assumes there is mediation between the athlete and the environment through mental representation, and another that assumes direct contact between the athlete and the environment and thus no need for mental representation. Importantly, our aim was not to arrive at a theoretical consensus or set up a competition between approaches but rather to provide a legitimate scientific discussion about how to explain empirical results in JDMS from contrasting perspectives within embodied cognition. For this, we first outline the definitions and constructs of embodied cognition in JDMS. Second, we detail the theory underlying the mental representation and direct contact approaches. Third, we comment on two published research papers on JDMS, one selected by each of us: (1) Correia et al. (2012) and (2) Pizzera (2012). Fourth, following the interpretation of the empirical findings of these papers, we present a discussion on the commonalities and divergences of these two perspectives and the consequences of using one or the other approach in the study of JDMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Enterprise social media platforms (ESMPs) are web 2.0-based computer media tools that facilitate knowledge sharing by employees. The purpose of this paper is to outline the potential of ESMPs in both enabling and hindering knowledge sharing from the perspective of affordances.Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper which integrates the literature on ESMPs' affordances and knowledge sharing.Findings This paper finds that prior research on affordances only considered artifacts without much attention on the role of individual goals and organizational context. ESMPs may both enable and hinder knowledge sharing by affording different user behaviors contingent on artifacts, individual goals and organizational context.Practical implications The results of the paper will help managers and ESMPs designers to better understand the potential of ESMPs and pay attention to the positive and negative impacts of ESMPs in the process of knowledge sharing.Originality/value The paper derives a new categorization of affordances based on individual goals and organization context and portrays a model to describe how and when these affordances enable knowledge sharing through the development of transactive memory system and social capital and hinder knowledge sharing through overload, groupthink and privacy invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe multi-sensorial and embodied experiences of ‘being transported’ as passengers are an important, but at times underemphasized, theme in transport policy and planning. Asking the key question ‘how does it feel?’ seems straight forward and yet still hard to accommodate in the realm of planning and transport policies. However, if the ‘way that we feel’ is what attunes us to be attracted (or the opposite) to different modes of transport, then the affective, embodied, and sensorial qualities of buses, subways, airplanes, and ferries is more than an issue of ‘comfort’ and competitive advantage (even though this is a central concern for public transport agencies in the post-covid 19 context). Rather, we should understand how the enrolment of human bodies into infrastructural systems and mobility technologies shape our experiences in the everyday life. This paper hones in on a few theoretical concepts developed under the umbrella of ‘mobilities design’. Seen as a field of ‘material pragmatism’ it presents concepts such as ‘material interpellation’, ‘mobility affordance’, ‘extended bodies’, and ‘osmosis’ as part of a vocabulary enabling a more granular understanding of how we experience the world as passengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle (OSP) is the property of Institut National d'Etude du Travail et d'Orientation Professionnelle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Japanese language education, the term "learning environment" is used in various contexts. This paper investigates the term "learning environment" in previous studies and notes that traditional learning environments have been characterized as "morphological characteristics learning environments" focusing on static learners. However, since learning environments involve a dynamic, reciprocal relationship where learners and their surroundings interact and evolve, the paper advocates for a re-conceptualization of "experiential-ecological learning environments" that captures this dynamic nature. Furthermore, to enrich the experiential-ecological learning environment for learners, the presence of learning environment engineers and the meaningful valuing of environmental enrichments is essential. Lastly, the paper emphasizes that by combining various individual learning experiences, it is possible to create a sustainable and richer learning environment.

What are the affordances of artifacts? One view is that the affordances of artifacts, just as the affordances of natural objects, pertain to possible ways in which they can be manipulated (e.g., a computer keyboard affords grasping). Another view maintains that, given that artifacts are sociocultural objects, their affordances pertain primarily to their culturally-derived function (e.g., a computer keyboard affords typing). Whereas some have tried to provide a unifying notion of affordance to capture both aspects, here I argue that they should be kept separate. In this paper, I introduce a distinction between standard affordances, which concern the function of artifacts, and ad-hoc affordances, which refer to how artifacts are manipulated. I then argue for the neuropsychological plausibility of such a distinction, linking it to the dissociation between function knowledge and manipulation knowledge. Finally, I defend the equal status of these forms of knowledge and, hence, of standard and ad-hoc affordances, and I show that this has some implications for the debate on the role of motor processes in the conceptual knowledge of artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to filling a lacuna in recent research on common normative backgrounds. On the one hand, discussions of common normative backgrounds tend to underexpose the role the feeling body plays in relation to the agent's recognition of deontic powers (obligations, compelling reasons or rights). On the other hand, discussions of bodily background orientations and their role in the agent's sensitivity to practical significance tend to underexpose the recognition of deontic power. In this paper, I argue that bodily background orientations can contribute to an agent's sensitivity to deontic power. Developing further on Ratcliffe's conceptualization of existential feelings, I propose that a person's bodily background orientation implies responsiveness to an ethically significant kind of affordance. In order to flesh out this theoretical claim, I draw on empirical material concerning a specific existential orientation labelled as "quietism." Reconstructing its central patterns, I explicate the bodily dimension involved in the quietist orientation as well as the way in which it shapes the responsiveness to felt demands in terms of preserving tranquillity and protecting the familiar. Finally, I discuss the broader theoretical implications of my claim and suggest to categorize ethically relevant bodily background orientations such as the one implicated in the quietist orientation as deontological feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have online communities affected the ways their users construct, view, and define their identity? In this paper, we will approach this issue by considering two philosophical sets of problems related to personal identity: the "Characterization Question" and the "Self-Other Relations Question." Since these queries have traditionally brought out different problems around the concept of identity, here we aim at rethinking them in the framework of online communities. To do so, we will adopt an externalist and cognitive point of view on online communities, describing them as virtual cognitive niches. We will evaluate and agree with the Attachment Theory of Identity, arguing that there is continuity between offline and online identity and that usually the latter contributes to the alteration of the former. Finally, we will discuss ways users can enact self-reflection on online frameworks, considering the impact of the Filter Bubble and the condition of Bad Faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rasprave Instituta za Hrvatski Jezik i Jezikoslovlje is the property of Institute of Croatian Language & Linguistics / Institut za Hrvatski Jezik i Jezikoslovlje and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Affordances serve as design cues, facilitating users in effortlessly identifying the intended use of objects. However, due to the phenomenological nature of the affordance concept, its application and understanding in the human-computer interaction (HCI) domain remain uncertain, resulting in limited utilization in design practice. This study introduces the concept of nested affordances, linking affordances more closely and explicitly with perception. We reposition the affordance concept and transform it into a design tool--the Affordance Interaction Matrix (AIM). This matrix captures the nested relationships and perceptual conflicts between target affordances within a product, assisting designers in identifying and eliminating potential confusion for users when facing a design, providing implicit interaction cues. The AIM-based design method proposed in this research addresses the shortcomings in describing product affordance interactions, focusing on the natural guidance of specific behaviors. This approach enables designers to clarify intuitive interaction foundations and make swift, effective decisions. Finally, the paper demonstrates the application and advantages of AIM through a practical case study of accessible kitchen furniture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts out from a radical embodied analysis of German modals. The merit of this proposal is that it provides a framework for the conceptualization of these constructions as part of a broader continuity between perception, memory and consciousness. According to the interpretation and defense of this view offered here, I will argue that modal events in German are constructed as instances of the embodied information encoded by specific constructional attachment patterns. The results of the corpus study in the latter part of the paper reveal that syntactic content (rather than lexical information alone) is crucial for the reduction of both surprise and entropy, as it reflects cognitive processes associated with affordance mapping and the speakers' need to increase epistemic capital. This shows that humans make use of stored perceptual maps, the combination of which allows us to construct and manipulate complex event representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I examine a set of exceptional aesthetic experiences that remove us from our pragmatic everyday life and involve a specific type of unaffordability. I then extend this notion of unaffordability to experiences of awe and its relation to the sublime. My analysis is guided by considerations of the phenomenologically inspired enactivist approach that supports an affordance-based accounts of aesthetic experience. I review some recent neurophenomenological studies of the experience of awe, and I then sketch out a phenomenology of awe as it approaches the sublime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I re-examine the notion of 'clause-as-representation' in Michael Halliday's systemic functional theory of language. I argue that 'representation' is a mode of linguistic action that cannot be understood in terms of the experiential metafunction alone. Instead, a theoretical account of representation must be undertaken in relation to all the metafunctions. Rejecting encodingist accounts of representation, I develop the argument that representations are interactively constituted and emergent in languaging activity. The paper develops these arguments in relation to a process ontological account of the relations between language and the world-side phenomena that language represents. Language does not encode actualities. The future-oriented, anticipatory character of languaging is fundamentally modal in character. A co-articulated self-utterance-situation matrix never attains full actuality. The virtual potentialities of languaging always have the potential for further individuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification is gaining popularity in organisational settings, yet it is unclear if investments in organisational gamification will pay off, given that reports of mixed results are commonplace in the literature. It is important that potential factors behind any mixed results from the initial wave of gamification research be identified and addressed before organisational scholars and practitioners start investing valuable resources into large-scale gamification projects. In this Issues and Opinions paper, we identify and discuss several reasons that may be contributing to the problem of mixed results. We ground our arguments in an umbrella review of the gamification literature. In line with the theme of "Putting more than mere 'Fun and Games' into Systems" for this special issue, we propose a framework grounded in Adaptive Structuration Theory and present a set of research questions that can help guide future organisational gamification research. Further, based on the strengths and limitations of our work, we identify several additional avenues to stimulate future research and produce fresh practical insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical demand for innovation in elderly care, especially in delivering the quality of service to elderlies, arises as many parts of the world are rapidly in transition to an elderly society. The advancement of robotic technologies, especially, in cognitive robotics and sociable human-robot interaction offers a great opportunity for meeting such demand. This paper presents the design and implementation of a next generation of elderly care robot, named as "HomeMate," based on an innovative undertaking in its sociability and dependability with extensive user studies. The elderlies taken care of by Senior Welfare Centers are chosen as the target sector, for which the following five service scenarios are designed: infotainment, video chatting, game playing, medicine alarm and, in particular, errand services. Unlike conventional approaches, the scenarios are designed here to ensure the overall quality of service by maximizing the synergy under an elderly-caregiver-service robot ecosystem. The unique features implemented in HomeMate include 1) the principle of affordance in appearance design by matching functionality and anthropomorphism indices, 2) the sociability implemented by balancing between autonomy and user controllability as well as by integrating multimodal interactions into HomeMate avatar, and 3) the emphasis on dependability to inspire confidence on HomeMate as a trusted assistant, for which the principle of dependability is proposed and implemented with a cognitive framework. Experiments and user studies strongly support the proposed design principles and verify the dependability in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations 'Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development' lays out 17 Sustainable Development Goals to address a range of global issues related to the future of the planet and human well-being. Critics, however, argue that the Agenda, a complex product of multi-stakeholder governance, in its drive to accommodate many competing voices, is overloaded with weakly defined, overlapping and contradictory issues, concepts and buzzwords. These serve to gloss over actual concrete global problems and forces, concealing an underlying free-trade ideology. In this paper, using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, we draw attention to the nature of the documents used to communicate the Agenda. These documents comprise an edifice of self-referential texts that rely heavily on infographics, bullet points, charts and tables. Such formats appear to helpfully simplify, distil information and break things down into workable components. But, we show, through the affordances of these formats, the the vagueness of buzzwords, contradictions and lack of clear causalities can be glossed over, presenting the Agenda as a highly technical, engaging, and above all moral process. These formats are important, therefore, for the legitimization and rhetorical power of the Agenda, necessary for its take-up by governments and organizations around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bauphysik is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Open e-Government scholarship is meant to address the twin dimensions of openness: greater transparent access to data and more inclusive participation in design. Extant research, however, rarely addresses the inclusive design of e-Government, which is the focus of our research. We focus on broad desire for inclusive e-Government design by analyzing data from three countries – United Kingdom, Lebanon, and Qatar – involving (a) a qualitative survey of users seeking their input on e-Government design improvements and (b) interviews with service providers to elicit their views on inclusive e-Government design. Our findings highlight that inclusion may begin with seeking design input only; however, once the process is triggered, it can lead to what we call a landscape of inclusive e-Government design. More importantly, our paper contributes to the literature by elaborating the granular underpinnings of this landscape encompassing an emergent mechanism of inclusive e-Government design that consists of the following three components: (i) the enabling social inclusion affordances; (ii) the supporting processes; and (iii) the enabling organizational capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithms embedded in media applications increasingly influence individuals' media practice and behavioral decisions. However, it is also important to consider how the influence of such algorithms can be resisted. Few studies have explored the resistant outcomes of the interactions with algorithms. Based on an affordance perspective, this study constructed a formation framework of algorithmic resistance in the context of short videos in China. Survey responses from 2,000 short video users to test the model. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. The findings reveal two types of "moderate" resistance: avoidance and obfuscation. Specific needs, such as the motivations of peeking and escapism, are significantly related to perceived algorithmic affordance, which, in turn, encourages the tactics of avoidant and obfuscated resistance. The results provide new insights into the potential formation mechanisms of algorithmic resistance. The forms of resistance highlighted in the paper evolve alongside algorithms and have significant practical implications for users and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe a semiotic programme that proposes an alternative conceptual framework to understand the moral positionalities that people have in socio-material space. The study amalgamates moral character and signs and signification through a discussion of moral choice and value acts in an existential semiotic framework, as laid out by Eero Tarasti. The programme was triggered by a lived experience in a non-place, yielding the concept of semiotic space awareness – i.e., the value acts that work as signs of moral character in people's socio-material space. It is the moral positioning of a subject in the socio-material and semiotic space in relation to other subjects. People's positionalities primarily take place in the socio-material space, and the dimensions we discuss focus on how value acts are produced and interpreted in space and place. Our aim is to take the approach used in, e.g., proxemics to a universal metalevel in terms of its key, undivided semiotic ingredients irrespective of cultural variation. We then extrapolate by discussing how these value acts trigger potential tensions and conflicts that can be approached using semiotics as a foundation for analysis. More specifically, the moral character that people portray in their value acts is theorized and applied as an explanatory tool to understand the semiosis and its repercussions in Dasein. We also introduce affordance as an additional dimension in the interplay and modalizations between moral character and moral choice to understand value acts and semiotic space awareness in subjects' Dasein and Umwelt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling is increasingly visible in archaeological descriptions of technology. This has a range of benefits as we attempt to engage with the full complexity of the material past. However, this paper examines in more detail whether a singular focus on recycling is positive for archaeological science. It considers the historical relationship between recycling and the chemical analysis of early copper alloys, the constraints of the different conceptual and statistical techniques that can be employed, and broader ideas of metal mutability and the characterisation hypothesis. Overall, anything that widens our conceptual toolkit should be welcomed. However, it is most helpful to have recycling emerge from case study data as part of a broader approach, rather than to focus on it as a sole aim. Similarly, the prioritisation of provenance has sometimes not helped the field. Engaging with a wider 'characterisation hypothesis' would bring several benefits, and help build collaborations with other areas of archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This vision piece reflects upon virtues of early computer science due to scarcity and high cost of computational resources. It critically assesses divergences between realworld problems and their computational counterparts in commonsense problem solving. The paper points out the different objectives of commonsense versus scientific approaches to problem solving. It describes how natural cognitive systems exploit space and time without explicitly representing their properties and why purely computational approaches are less efficient than their natural role models, as they depend on explicit representations. We argue for investigating spatio-temporally integrated methods to spatial problem solving. We contrast these methods to sequential computational approaches that require digital twins of the environment and cannot make direct use of simultaneous spatio-temporal interactions. The paper concludes with predicting future developments in problem solving, praising the relative merits of different routes to be taken. It advocates the translation of fundamental cognitive principles into technical robotic solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this special issue is to further our understanding of 'house', 'home' and 'dwelling' by presenting five empirical studies that investigate different aspects of these concepts. All three are complex, multi-faceted and multi-layered concepts, whose diverse connotations are often used interchangeably. For example, the word home is used for the physical structure of the house, for the meanings attached to the house, as well as for the process of homemaking. From an analytical point of view this is undesirable, since we require our concepts to be as unambiguous as possible. Therefore, in this introductory paper, the guest editors present a conceptual framework for studying house, home and dwelling that is based on the fundamental distinction between an environmental object and the affordances attached to it. The studies presented in this special issue investigate different aspects of house, home and dwelling, but they all use this conceptual framework and share the same theoretical perspective on people-dwelling relations. And, although each of the papers has its own merits, together they demonstrate that the conceptual framework is an effective tool for dismantling the concepts of house, home and dwelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late twentieth century sociology began to recognise the performative role of technological artefacts in human lives. These objects enact their non-human agency by actions that human users cannot completely control. This paper critically assesses existing approaches that investigate the relation of human and non-human agencies (actor-network theory, the ventriloqual perspective on communication, contemporary affordance theory). The main focus of this article is the challenge of describing the performative influence of routine and invisible objects. By analysing existing approaches that employ the concepts of inscriptions and attachments, the paper argues that the ventriloqual perspective on communication is human-centered because it assesses the relevance of an object by pointing to a person's attitude to it (attachment). In turn, actor-network theory is object-centered as it emphasizes the visible performativity of technologies (inscriptions) and ignores the action possibilities provided by them. Meanwhile, contemporary affordance theory helps to extend the agency of things to their potential performances. Despite the shortcomings and merits of existing approaches, each of these frameworks employ multiple types of agencies without full acknowledgement. Using the examples of several empirical studies, the author shows that there is a lack of conceptual clarity when trying to account for the agency of routine and invisible objects. By reconciling the inscription and affordance perspectives, the author delineates four types of agencies that material objects can enact. In the conclusion, theoretical and methodological implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-adaptive behavior can be defined as the behavior that allows an agent to adapt to a context using her/his/its resources. The property of being 'self-adaptive' implies considering some preliminary sources or elicitors for such skill. In the case of machine learning, all the learning or self-adaptive behavior mechanisms are related to algorithmic models of mathematical nature, while in the case of humans more subtle neurochemical and symbolic processes (logical and linguistic) are present. The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical analysis of the basic mechanisms related to learning processes, always oriented towards the creation of artificial cognitive systems which can implement such bioinspired mechanisms. Parafunctionality is the key innovative concept we introduce for applying bioinspired cognition to machine learning exploring a real mechanism still unexplored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social theory has much to gain from taking up the challenges of conceptualizing 'mental health'. Such an approach to the stunting of human mental life in conditions of adversity requires us to open up the black box of 'environment', and to develop a vitalist biosocial science, informed by and in conversation with the life sciences and the neurosciences. In this paper we draw on both classical and contemporary social theory to begin this task. We explore human inhabitation – how humans inhabit their 'ecological niches' – and examine a number of conceptual developments that 'deconstruct' the binary distinction between organism and environment. We argue that we must understand the neurological, ecological and social pathways and mechanisms that shape human (mental) life if we are to address the central concerns of our discipline with inequity and injustice as these are inscribed into the bodies and souls of human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its relationship with technological objects, design has historically used aesthetic, stylistic and symbolic devices to tame what was perceived as wild. Drawing on the ideas offered by the framework of domestication, this paper addresses the issue of the relevance of the relationship between user and technological object in an era characterised by the rapid transformation of physical objects towards dematerialisation. Does it still make sense to speak of affordance in the face of a shift from the physical plane to the virtual in the user-object relationship? And what happens to this relationship when technology loses its materiality and becomes ephemeral? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of affordance remains elusive, notwithstanding its importance for the representation of agency, cognition, and behaviors. This paper lays down a foundation for an ontology of affordances by elaborating the idea of "core affordance" which would serve as a common ground for explaining existing diverse conceptions of affordances and their interrelationships. For this purpose, it analyzes M. T. Turvey's dispositional theory of affordances in light of a formal ontology of dispositions. Consequently, two kinds of so-called "core affordances" are proposed: specific and general ones. Inspired directly by Turvey's original account, a specific core affordance is intimately connected to a specific agent, as it is reciprocal with a counterpart effectivity (which is a disposition) of this agent within the agent-environment system. On the opposite, a general core affordance does not depend on individual agents; rather, its realization involves an action by an instance of a determinate class of agents. The utility of such core affordances is illustrated by examining how they can be leveraged to formalize other major accounts of affordances. Additionally, it is briefly outlined how core affordances can be employed to analyze three notions that are closely allied with affordances: the environment, image schemas, and intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the repetition of prophecies on the end of the book, and changes in book production and reading demographics. The paper hypothesizes that in Western societies perceptions of the death of the book have been influenced by the greater mental demands of consuming textual media in comparison with their audiovisual counterparts. In order to understand how these different mental demands have influenced debates on the death of the book, the paper shows that the 20th century witnessed significant changes in book-reading demographics and book distribution which rather paradoxically correlated not only with the growth of audiovisual media and changes in educational demographics but also with the explosion of book consumption and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a design strategy which combines both conceptual and mental design information to quantitative degrees of affordance using a fuzzy scale that provides user-to-designer information. The traditional communication channel has been hidden. In the past, design concepts were not a result of direct communication between designers and users. This study found that, based on users’ mental models, users can reflectively modify product characteristics to improve the convenience of usage. These insights offer a hidden communication channel for designers and are defined as generalised affordance within the context of this research. This study proposed a novel method to semi-quantify affordance using a fuzzy linguistic modelling technique to establish a fuzzy scale table that quantifies degrees of affordance. An affordance fuzzy matrix (AFM) was created to assess the effects of affordance of each task necessary to utilise each product component. The overall results of the AFM indicate the generalised affordance of a particular product. Hidden messages are the characteristic of a product improved by the user itself because of his habit, which incurs additional product features, symbols and words, and will help product designers for further design strategy and improvements. In this study, generalised affordance is applied to an electric oven as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses the notion of material affordances to show that a focus on how people engage with materials helps understanding how organizations transit toward sustainability. Material affordances refer to the enablements and constraints afforded by materials to someone engaging with an environment for a particular purpose. Based on a qualitative study of a company's efforts at becoming circular, we show that material affordances are evolutive as organizational members shift focus from the development of products to the establishment of a circular business model. We also show that affordances are distributed across the company's circular ecosystem. Between what they enable and prevent, they invite humans to a dynamic engagement with materials that decenters human agencies to incorporate material agency in such efforts. A key contribution of the notion of material affordances is to put the relationships of humans and materials at the core of a transition toward circularity and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the repetition of prophecies on the end of the book, and changes in book production and reading demographics. The paper hypothesizes that in Western societies perceptions of the death of the book have been influenced by the greater mental demands of consuming textual media in comparison with their audiovisual counterparts. In order to understand how these different mental demands have influenced debates on the death of the book, the paper shows that the 20th century witnessed significant changes in book-reading demographics and book distribution which rather paradoxically correlated not only with the growth of audiovisual media and changes in educational demographics but also with the explosion of book consumption and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]