“No user is an island” Onlookers, affordances, and the impact of mobile devices on work practices

This paper addresses the question of how the use of mobile devices impacts work practices, based on an ethnographic study of the use of iPod Touch devices in operating rooms. Building on the concept of affordances in its recent conceptualization as “multifaceted relational structures”, we analyze the interplay between different affordances of iPods seen from the perspective of the user (who is interacting with the device), and from the perspective of the onlooker (who is interacting with the user, but not directly with the device itself). The analyses reveal that while the use of the device clearly had a function in supporting individual work practices, it negatively influenced the implicit coordination required for the interactive work practices. By including the onlookers’ perspective, we provide a more complete picture of how affordances are shaped and enacted within the social context of multiple relations and how this enactment further impacts work practices

The making of mobilities in online work-learning practices

In this study of mobilities of work-learning practices, I draw on sociomaterial theorizing to explore how the everyday work and learning practices of contingent workers are changing through the infusion of web and mobile technologies. I use Ingold’s notions ofbecomingandmeshworkand Law’s work oncollateral realitiesto explore curation of screens, different flows of mobilities and the importance of place to enact work-learning practices that move and mobilize. This study suggests that the making of mobilities is a fluid and provisional process that asks for a more thoughtful and critical posthuman reckoning with human–technology interactions on learning practices and spaces. I conclude with implications of these shifts in new mobilities of work-learning for workers and educators

Affordances and Information Systems Research: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

The term affordance appears with increasing frequency in the Information Systems (IS) literature. Nevertheless, those who study information technologies/information systems (IT/IS) via the affordance lens often have different views about its origin, meaning, and appropriate application in IS research. In turn, not spelling out the related assumptions and boundaries inherent in these diverse views may have hindered a wider and more cumulative adoption of the affordance lens in IS research. This paper offers a potential solution by (1) synthesizing the ecological psychology literature to suggest five key modules of the affordance concept relevant to IS research and (2) taking stock of IS research that has employed the affordance concept and classifying it according to its focus on three key affordance elements: IT artifact, user, and context. Finally, this paper presents a set of challenges, opportunities, and recommendations regarding how IS researchers can advance affordance-based research in the field