ARTX-C1019 - Introduction to Research in Design and Media, Lecture, 5.9.2022-5.12.2022

As Klaus Krippendorff has noted, artefacts acquire their meaning when in use. For example, the receptacle that is your favourite mug becomes a ‘cup’ when it is used as part of drinking coffee or tea. (Otherwise, it could be used for a plant, or to store your pencils, for example.) Thus, when engaged in doing artefact analysis one also need to consider how the item enables or constraints the activities for which it was intended. For example, scissors enable cutting materials such as cloth? What are some of the constraints entailed in scissors?

 Make a list of Affordances and Constraints about the artefact you selected. Do these tell us something about the artefact? Are these somehow related to the artefact’s structure? How is it an enabling artefact? How does it operate as a constraining one?  Gather these into a document that is not more than 250 words in length.