Affordances: the specific and unique attributes or functions of a medium.

It’s interesting to think about what makes a particular medium suited for some stories but not others. In this week’s lectorial we discussed how sound has a particular set of attributes because sound reception is a psychological process interpreting physical vibrations:

1. Sound is physical – you feel it (e.g. low sounds can make you uncomfortable)
2. It provides precise spatial and directional information
3. It can be a very intimate form of communication – because you feel it can communicate very delicate personal information (e.g. whisper)
4. Often portable – you can be doing other things while listening to sound

This got me thinking about what the affordances of other media might be.

Podcasts

1. Use sound’s intimacy to tell human stories – it’s right in your ear
2. Portable, can be used when driving or doing housework etc. (This could also be a weakness as it allows for a less attentive audience.)
3. Major weakness is that it can’t use visual accompaniment in any way

Live television

1. A shared experience between communities, either in the studio audience or in society at large (e.g. event television)
2. Allows for “wow” moments, unplanned or surprise experiences
3. At the mercy of the live participants, so resulting quality can be inconsistent

Long-form magazine articles

1. Can use (and edit) quotes to steer a reader’s point of view to the story
2. Text can compensate for low quality audio recording, as the legibility of the speaker isn’t an issue
3. Allows deep focus – reading an article is the only activity that can be done at that time

Comedy/spoken word performance

1. Like a written story but speaker can use cadence and emphasis to add colour
2. Live audience feedback is contagious and concentrates reactions

There are obviously many, many more affordances that could be listed for these and other media, and hopefully we get a chance to work with some of these types of content in future workshops.