Technologies, Inbetweenness and Affordances

Abstract

Categorization of technologies by the order of their inbetweenness is a useful device for parsing complex structures info fundamental parts and understanding the application of a technology. This promises a coherent foundation for explaining how we deploy technologies in design, in particular with respect to the affordances they create. By connecting the categorization of technologies to the matching of user effectivities to features of the environment in affordances, the paper proposes an approach to the transparent description of the assemblages produced by design in terms of which technologies are involved and how they connect to each other, to the wider environment and to users. For affordances, this improves specificity concerning the features of the environment that are directly relevant to an interaction and the connections between these features and the rest of the environment. With respect to technologies, it helps understand not only why a technology may be used under certain circumstances but also abuse and underperformance. Finally, it supports design by providing means for parsing complex situations into chains of technologies between animals and environments. This helps explain how technologies modify effectivities, environments or relations between the two and how this affects design performance.