Michelle draft one

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=The Spatial Affordance=
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=Spatial Affordance=
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The <b>Spatial Affordance</b> in multimedia is a concept that refers to the ability of a digital medium to represent space, as well as encourage navigation through that space via organization and spatial metaphors. Affordances in general suggest how an entity could or should be used.<ref>https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html</ref> Spatial affordances employ a hierarchy of labels, where each space possesses its own label and function. When spatial affordances are appropriately used, the labels of each space will make obvious the space’s function.
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The <b>Spatial Affordance</b> in multimedia is a concept that refers to the ability of a digital medium to represent space, as well as encourage navigation through that space via organization and spatial metaphors. [[Affordances]] in general suggest how an entity could or should be used.<ref>https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html</ref> Spatial affordances employ a hierarchy of labels, where each space possesses its own label and function. When spatial affordances are appropriately used, the labels of each space will make obvious the space’s function.
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How the spatial affordance in digital media is understood today is based on work in occupations, such as wayfinding, mapping, and curation, which consider the spatial affordances of physical entities. Specifically, articles discussing the ability of wayfinding and mapping to encourage navigation has influenced how space is utilized in digital mediums.
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How the spatial affordance in digital media is understood today is based on work in occupations, such as wayfinding, mapping, and curation, which consider the spatial affordances of physical entities. Specifically, articles discussing the ability of wayfinding and mapping to encourage navigation have influenced how space is utilized in digital media.
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==Required Texts and Materials:==
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==Background==
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[http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Medium-Principles-Interaction-Cultural/dp/0262016141 Inventing the Medium] (Murray)
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===Affordances===
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Writer/Designer (Arola, Sheppard, & Ball)
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Reclaim Hosting (student account)
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The concept of affordances was first introduced by Gibson (1979)<ref>Gibson, James J. (1979) The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception</ref> referring to the “action possibilities” of an object. For example, throwing is an action possibility of a ball the size of one’s hand. This concept was then expanded by Norman (1988)<ref>Norman, Donald A. (1988): The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday</ref> to include the “perceived and actual properties” of an entity. Affordances then also referred to the inherent quality of an object that a user is able to perceive. Because an affordance is also based on user perception, the possibilities of an object are dependent on the user.<ref>http://mystsphdquest.blogspot.com/2012/11/spatial-affordances.html</ref><ref>https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html</ref>
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==Course Goals and Objectives:==
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Janet Murray, one of the forefront authors on affordances, has since defined affordances in the context of digital text. She describes it as “A concept used in the field of human computer interaction to describe the functional properties of objects or environments – the properties that allow particular uses.<ref>Murray, Janet H. Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2012.</ref> For example, a blackboard affords writing and erasing, a low, flat, supported surface 30 inches square affords sitting.”
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Murray asserts that there are four affordances that are useful for representation within the digital realm: procedural, participatory, encyclopedic, and spatial. <ref>Murray, Janet H. Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2012.</ref>
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Students in this course will work to achieve the following learning goals and objectives:
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==Janet Murray's Spatial Affordance==
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understand the major issues and theoretical concepts related to writing for digital media
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gain practical experience in writing for digital media through the use of various platforms, applications, and programs
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learn foundational concepts, methods, and tools of digital humanities scholarship
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develop their ability to critically analyze the rhetorical strategies used by authors of digital texts
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learn to devise effective rhetorical strategies for their own texts and develop rhetorical flexibility for dealing with a wide range of writing situations
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understand the major ethical and legal issues that arise in writing for digital media
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develop their ability to craft texts using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, designing, revising, and editing
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develop their ability to provide constructive, substantive criticism to peers during the development of projects
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reflect on their work in order to critically assess their own development as writers and thinkers
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==Course Structure and Logistics:==
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[[Image:Inventing_the_medium_cover.jpg‎|thumb|left|alt=the cover of Inventing the Medium by Janet Murray.|The cover of Janet Murray's <i>Inventing the Medium</i>.]]
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Janet Murray is the author of several texts concerning affordances in digital media. Notable books of her's include <i>[http://inventingthemedium.com/ Inventing the Medium]</i>, which defines the spatial affordance as such:
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"With the encyclopedic, participatory, and procedural properties, [the spatial affordance is] one of the four defining representational affordances of the digital medium. Digital environments can represent space using all the strategies of traditional media, such as maps, images, video tracking, and three-dimensional models. Unlike older media, however, and similarly to the experiential world and the designed spaces of landscapers, urban planners, and architects, digital media artifacts can be navigated. This affordance is not a function of visual representation, since it can be produced in text adventure games like Zork and Adventure, which created navigable spaces without any images.  It is by-product of the procedural and participatory affordances, of setting up rules of interaction that have the consistency of navigating a fixed landscape, and of the innate human propensity to make sense of the world through spatial metaphors: we are predisposed to spatialized our experience, turning the appearance of text on our screen into the experience of “visiting’ web sites.  Navigable space is created by clearly distinguishing one place from another and creating consistent interaction patterns that support movement between spaces. When encyclopedically large and detailed informational spaces or virtual worlds are well organized with clear boundaries, consistent navigation, and encyclopedic details that reward exploration they create the experience of immersion." <ref>http://inventingthemedium.com/glossary/#spatial</ref>
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Because this course is being taught by two instructors who will "trade off" teaching and sometimes bring both classes together, students will need to pay close attention to the calendar and announcements on Emma in order to know which classroom to go to and what is on the agenda for each class session. Here is an overview of the Emma site and where you will find and post things:
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According to Murray's definition, spatial affordances do not represent real space, but instead act as an abstraction that may be used to fulfill a certain function or provide a certain piece of information. All of the spatial affordances working together in a text create easy user navigation of the text.
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The main course materials can be found in the Resources section on Emma in folders titled Course Basics, Assignments, Discussion Notes, HTML/CSS, Omeka, and Mapping. 
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The Projects section is where you will post your work on the various assignments, labeling your work with the correct project name and stage (e.g., "Rough Draft") so that your peers and instructors can easily find it for review
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The Forum is the discussion board where you will post your reading responses. The Calendar is where you can find the daily syllabus and you can also see the upcoming events on the course home page. You can see the whole agenda from the first day of class anytime by clicking Calendar > Agenda > All Events. *Please note that the daily schedule may require adjustment as the semester goes on. If we need to make any changes to due dates or assigned reading or activities, the calendar will be revised accordingly and an announcement will be posted to Emma and/or sent via e-mail so that you will be notified of those changes. The Notes tab opens a space where you can keep your own personal notes (this space is available only to you and is not shared with anyone else in the class).
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You have three ways of posting your work to Emma when you have an assignment. Go to the Projects tab and click the Create button on the left. Then select Document (opens the integrated word processor so that you can start writing directly in Emma), Upload (prompts you to select a file from your own computer and upload it), or Link (opens a dialogue box in which you can directly enter a URL for an external website).
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===<div id="attendance">Assignments and Grading:</div>===
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==The Spatial Affordance in Non-Digital Texts==
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The assignments and course requirements count as follows:
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===Wayfinding===
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Blog (10%)
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HTML5/CSS Coding Project (10%)
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Rhetorical/Affordances Analysis (10%)
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Mapping Mini-Project (5%)
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Research Project (10%)
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Omeka Project (10%)
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Textual Machines Symposium (5%)
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Final Curated Portfolio with Reflective Analysis (30%)
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Reading Responses (5%)
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Participation (5%)
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Details for specific assignments will be found in Resources > Assignments on our Emma class site. Please review those details carefully and ask questions if anything is unclear. Not understanding what is expected is not an excuse!
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Reading Responses:
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We will use the forum on Emma for reading responses. Check the calendar to see when a reading response is due, and see the forum topic for guidelines and prompts. In general, shoot for about 300 words, and work to reflect your thinking about the reading, rather than summary.
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[[Image:AirportWayfinding.JPG‎|thumb|right|alt=an example of Wayfinding at an airport.|An example of Wayfinding use at an airport.]]
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Before digital media, there were (and still are) processes that focused on how to best use a space to send messages and provide cues to those who interacted with that space. This process is called wayfinding ((cite to wayfinding DRC WIKI PAGE)). Wayfinding uses lighting, color, architecture, etc. to help users navigate a space, and when best done, users should not notice that they are subject to it.
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===Grading and Assessment: Values and Expectations===
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Wayfinding, like working with the spatial affordances of a digital text, considers how each space affects the surrounding space, and attempts to “establish a sense of place” for users so that the entire space is easily navigated.<ref>http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-you-know-where-youre-going-when-youre-in-an-airport/372537/</ref> For example, appropriate use of wayfinding in an airport includes the use of organized and clearly labeled signs and obvious symbols for food and restroom stations. Getting lost or made perplexed by an airport sign disrupts the space’s sense of navigation and points to poor wayfinding and poor use of the spatial affordance. <ref>http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-you-know-where-youre-going-when-youre-in-an-airport/372537/</ref>
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This class is a writing workshop and I consider you all authors who are learning the expectations and conventions of professional writing within an academic environment. Letter and number grades are not really very valuable in terms of learning, but they are required by the academic institution, so we must assign them. Therefore, the evaluation/assessment criteria for assignments will be discussed (and sometimes, probably, debated) before and during the process of working on assignments so that you know what is expected in terms of excellence. Generally speaking, an excellent performance in this course (e.g., an "A") means the following:
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===Mapping===
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attendance and timeliness (see​ [[#attendance | attendance policy]])
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preparedness at all times (e.g., having assigned work prepared by deadline, being ready to actively discuss and critique reading or drafts, etc.)
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thoughtfulness and engagement in course activities, including active participation and positive contribution to the class as a whole (e.g., through active critical thinking and questioning and assisting the other members of this course in a way that helps them become stronger writers and thinkers)
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production of high quality work (e.g., work that achieves or surpasses the evaluation criteria for excellence)
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If you do not do the above, do not expect your final grade to reflect excellence.
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===Plus/Minus Grading: ===
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Mapping provides another example of how to think about the use of spatial affordances. Maps have “postings,” such as streets, churches, neighborhoods, and cities. These postings are organized in a hierarchal fashion that convey the level of authority each posting has in relation to one another. Like in media, in mapping each posting related to another implies something about each individual space, and these relationships encourage use of the overall space. Additionally, maps use symbols, such as a cross for a church or a book for a school, that are meant to act as spatial representations that allow for the seamless navigation of the map.<ref>http://makingmaps.owu.edu/this_is_not_krygier_wood.pdf</ref>
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Plus and minus grades are assigned to a student's final average for the course. For the course grade, the grade-point average and the numerical range for each plus/minus grade is as follows:
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===Curation===
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A      4.0      (92-100)
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A-      3.7      (90-91)
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B+  3.3      (88-89)
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B      3.0      (82-87)
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B-      2.7      (80-81)
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C+  2.3      (78-79)
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C      2.0      (70-77)
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C-      1.7      (68-69)
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D      1.0      (60-67)
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F      0.0      (<60)
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===Attendance and Classroom Policies:===
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Attendance is mandatory and a professional obligation. If you miss more than four (4) class meetings before the withdrawal deadline, you may be dropped from the course. There is no distinction between "excused" or "unexcused" - an absence is simply an absence.Attendance is factored into the participation portion of your grade since you cannot fully participate in the course if you are not present for class meetings.
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Museum design via curation also is based on utilizing spatial affordances. Research by Jean Wineman and John Peponis from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that human behavioral patterns are directly linked to spatial elements that encourage access and visibility. Wineman & Peponis (2010) stress that the use of the space and the physical structure of a museum exhibit entirely effects a visitor’s impression, learning, and interaction with the exhibit<ref>Wineman, Jean D., and John Peponis. "Constructing Spatial Meaning: Spatial Affordances In Museum Design." Environment And Behavior 42.1 (2010): 86-109. ERIC. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.</ref>, just as the use of the spatial affordance in media affects a user’s ability to navigate a digital text.
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Students may not make up reading responses or in-class assignments except in extenuating circumstances. For each 24-hour period that an analysis, project, or portfolio is late, I will deduct one letter grade. If a pressing emergency arises, contact me prior to the due date to make arrangements. If you miss a deadline because of a verifiable illness or emergency, you must provide legitimate documentation in order for arrangements to be made to submit work late or make up a major assignment.
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With regard to technology and classroom expectations:
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You may bring your own laptop, tablet, and/or e-reader to use during class. On days when you meet in 149 Park Hall, you will have the computers in that lab to use if you like. While in class, please use your devices ONLY for activities DIRECTLY related to what we are doing in class. Please do not use them for personal activities or for anything that might cause a distraction to others while class is in session. Also, please mute the ringers/alarms on your devices before class begins.
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This course relies heavily on access to computers, specific software, and the Internet. At some point during the semester you might have a problem with technology: your laptop will crash, a file will become corrupted, a server will go down, or something else will occur. Sadly, technological excuses (“my router died,” etc.) cannot be accepted in lieu of actual work. Always make back-ups for your work, plan ahead, and have a plan B in case of technology problems.
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Please have a set of earphones with you at each class session, as you may need to listen to audio for some of our activities and peer reviews.
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Please do not eat while class is in session. Do not bring food or drinks into 149 Park Hall.
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Please arrive on time and be fully prepared to start class at 11:00 am. If you are coming from a class that is a considerable distance away, please let me know at the beginning of the semester. It is disruptive to enter class late and, if you show a consistent pattern of lateness, it will affect your participation grade.
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Please do not leave the classroom once class begins unless you have an emergency.
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Please treat each other with respect in this classroom and do not say or write anything that would cause another person to feel disparaged or slighted. This class is a writing workshop course, so we will necessarily be critiquing each others' work, but I expect such critique to be done in a way that is constructive, considerate, and fair.
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Because we are studying writing for digital media, we may come across and discuss things online that may contain strong language or ideas and rhetoric that might be offensive to some people. That is a fact of life on the World Wide Web. However, there are certain subjects and digital artifacts (e.g., pornography, hate group sites/blogs, depictions of extreme violence) that may cause other people in the course to feel threatened or intimidated and that is damaging to the classroom dynamic and environment.  So please be very mindful of what you bring to the table during class discussion and in your projects and consider how others might respond.
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==Access Policy:==
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==The Spatial Affordance Related to Other Affordances==
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Students with special needs are invited and encouraged to discuss them with the instructor.
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[[Image:Four_Affordances1.JPG‎|thumb|left|alt=Janet Murray's four affordances of digital text.|Janet Murray's four affordances of digital text.]]
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==Academic Honesty:==
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==Examples of Spatial Affordance Use==
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As a University of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the University's academic honesty policy, "A Culture of Honesty," and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must meet the standards described in "A Culture of Honesty." Lack of knowledge of the academic honesty policy is not a reasonable explanation for a violation. Questions related to course assignments and the academic honesty policy should be directed to the instructor.
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Within any text, affordances of space are used, but there are some digital texts that have been considered to best use the spatial affordance. Example texts include:
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NOTE: Students will collaborate in a writing workshop setting, engage with each others' work in peer review, and produce some work collaboratively. In all such collaborations, including peer review, I expect students to be ethical in their representation of their own and others' individual contributions. Also, writing for digital media presents some complex issues with regard to copyright, intellectual property, attribution, and plagiarism. I expect everyone to become familiar with those issues and understand what you can legally and ethically do as composers for digital media in terms of using material created by others. We will be discussing these issues in depth over the course of the semester, but if you are ever in doubt about how to use digital material/media appropriately, please check with me before going further!
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*The winner of the 2013 Webby Awards for Best Navigation/Structure: [http://cloudsovercuba.com/ Clouds over Cuba]<ref>i. http://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2013/web/general-website/associations/</ref>
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*The winner of the 2014 Webby Awards for Best Navigation/Structure: [https://www.behance.net/ Behance.net]<ref>http://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2014/web/website-features-and-design/best-navigationstructure/</ref>
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*The "People's Choice" Award Winner for Best Navigation/Structure: [http://thelasthunt.nfb.ca/#/thelasthunt The Last Hunt]<ref>http://pv.webbyawards.com/2015/web/website-features-and-design/best-navigationstructure</ref>
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==References==
==References==
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</references>
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<references>

Current revision

[edit] Spatial Affordance

The Spatial Affordance in multimedia is a concept that refers to the ability of a digital medium to represent space, as well as encourage navigation through that space via organization and spatial metaphors. Affordances in general suggest how an entity could or should be used.[1] Spatial affordances employ a hierarchy of labels, where each space possesses its own label and function. When spatial affordances are appropriately used, the labels of each space will make obvious the space’s function.

How the spatial affordance in digital media is understood today is based on work in occupations, such as wayfinding, mapping, and curation, which consider the spatial affordances of physical entities. Specifically, articles discussing the ability of wayfinding and mapping to encourage navigation have influenced how space is utilized in digital media.


Contents


[edit] Background

[edit] Affordances

The concept of affordances was first introduced by Gibson (1979)[2] referring to the “action possibilities” of an object. For example, throwing is an action possibility of a ball the size of one’s hand. This concept was then expanded by Norman (1988)[3] to include the “perceived and actual properties” of an entity. Affordances then also referred to the inherent quality of an object that a user is able to perceive. Because an affordance is also based on user perception, the possibilities of an object are dependent on the user.[4][5]

Janet Murray, one of the forefront authors on affordances, has since defined affordances in the context of digital text. She describes it as “A concept used in the field of human computer interaction to describe the functional properties of objects or environments – the properties that allow particular uses.[6] For example, a blackboard affords writing and erasing, a low, flat, supported surface 30 inches square affords sitting.” Murray asserts that there are four affordances that are useful for representation within the digital realm: procedural, participatory, encyclopedic, and spatial. [7]

[edit] Janet Murray's Spatial Affordance

The cover of Janet Murray's Inventing the Medium.
The cover of Janet Murray's Inventing the Medium.

Janet Murray is the author of several texts concerning affordances in digital media. Notable books of her's include Inventing the Medium, which defines the spatial affordance as such: "With the encyclopedic, participatory, and procedural properties, [the spatial affordance is] one of the four defining representational affordances of the digital medium. Digital environments can represent space using all the strategies of traditional media, such as maps, images, video tracking, and three-dimensional models. Unlike older media, however, and similarly to the experiential world and the designed spaces of landscapers, urban planners, and architects, digital media artifacts can be navigated. This affordance is not a function of visual representation, since it can be produced in text adventure games like Zork and Adventure, which created navigable spaces without any images. It is by-product of the procedural and participatory affordances, of setting up rules of interaction that have the consistency of navigating a fixed landscape, and of the innate human propensity to make sense of the world through spatial metaphors: we are predisposed to spatialized our experience, turning the appearance of text on our screen into the experience of “visiting’ web sites. Navigable space is created by clearly distinguishing one place from another and creating consistent interaction patterns that support movement between spaces. When encyclopedically large and detailed informational spaces or virtual worlds are well organized with clear boundaries, consistent navigation, and encyclopedic details that reward exploration they create the experience of immersion." [8]

According to Murray's definition, spatial affordances do not represent real space, but instead act as an abstraction that may be used to fulfill a certain function or provide a certain piece of information. All of the spatial affordances working together in a text create easy user navigation of the text.

[edit] The Spatial Affordance in Non-Digital Texts

[edit] Wayfinding

An example of Wayfinding use at an airport.
An example of Wayfinding use at an airport.

Before digital media, there were (and still are) processes that focused on how to best use a space to send messages and provide cues to those who interacted with that space. This process is called wayfinding ((cite to wayfinding DRC WIKI PAGE)). Wayfinding uses lighting, color, architecture, etc. to help users navigate a space, and when best done, users should not notice that they are subject to it.

Wayfinding, like working with the spatial affordances of a digital text, considers how each space affects the surrounding space, and attempts to “establish a sense of place” for users so that the entire space is easily navigated.[9] For example, appropriate use of wayfinding in an airport includes the use of organized and clearly labeled signs and obvious symbols for food and restroom stations. Getting lost or made perplexed by an airport sign disrupts the space’s sense of navigation and points to poor wayfinding and poor use of the spatial affordance. [10]

[edit] Mapping

Mapping provides another example of how to think about the use of spatial affordances. Maps have “postings,” such as streets, churches, neighborhoods, and cities. These postings are organized in a hierarchal fashion that convey the level of authority each posting has in relation to one another. Like in media, in mapping each posting related to another implies something about each individual space, and these relationships encourage use of the overall space. Additionally, maps use symbols, such as a cross for a church or a book for a school, that are meant to act as spatial representations that allow for the seamless navigation of the map.[11]

[edit] Curation

Museum design via curation also is based on utilizing spatial affordances. Research by Jean Wineman and John Peponis from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that human behavioral patterns are directly linked to spatial elements that encourage access and visibility. Wineman & Peponis (2010) stress that the use of the space and the physical structure of a museum exhibit entirely effects a visitor’s impression, learning, and interaction with the exhibit[12], just as the use of the spatial affordance in media affects a user’s ability to navigate a digital text.

[edit] The Spatial Affordance Related to Other Affordances

Janet Murray's four affordances of digital text.
Janet Murray's four affordances of digital text.

[edit] Examples of Spatial Affordance Use

Within any text, affordances of space are used, but there are some digital texts that have been considered to best use the spatial affordance. Example texts include:



[edit] References

  1. ↑ https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html
  2. ↑ Gibson, James J. (1979) The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
  3. ↑ Norman, Donald A. (1988): The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday
  4. ↑ http://mystsphdquest.blogspot.com/2012/11/spatial-affordances.html
  5. ↑ https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/affordances.html
  6. ↑ Murray, Janet H. Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2012.
  7. ↑ Murray, Janet H. Inventing the Medium: Principles of Interaction Design as a Cultural Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2012.
  8. ↑ http://inventingthemedium.com/glossary/#spatial
  9. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-you-know-where-youre-going-when-youre-in-an-airport/372537/
  10. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/how-you-know-where-youre-going-when-youre-in-an-airport/372537/
  11. ↑ http://makingmaps.owu.edu/this_is_not_krygier_wood.pdf
  12. ↑ Wineman, Jean D., and John Peponis. "Constructing Spatial Meaning: Spatial Affordances In Museum Design." Environment And Behavior 42.1 (2010): 86-109. ERIC. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
  13. ↑ i. http://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2013/web/general-website/associations/
  14. ↑ http://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2014/web/website-features-and-design/best-navigationstructure/
  15. ↑ http://pv.webbyawards.com/2015/web/website-features-and-design/best-navigationstructure
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