How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things (Design Thinking, Design Theory) First Edition

I loved this book - but full disclosure, I also love most of the articles the author cites (e.g., Winner, Norman, etc.). I used this book as a reference in academic papers - the frameworks are really interesting to use, particularly in the health context. In addition, I also am currently using this book as a resource at my job as a user researcher at a health tech product org. Its super versatile and not limited to the academic space.

I strongly recommend this book to people involved in creating digital tools & services. Davis offers a usable framework for assessing artifacts (e.g. tools/services/designs) for how values, social-cultural dynamics are embodied. The framework supports answering the questions of how artifacts afford and for whom, in what circumstances.While Davis offers examples of practical uses of the framework, the text predominantly focuses on theory. I look forward to trying out the framework!

You can refer to these two articles for almost 90% of the ideas of this book:1. Davis, J. L., & Chouinard, J. B. (2016). Theorizing affordances: From request to refuse. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 36(4), 241–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/02704676177149442. Schraube, E. (2009). Technology as materialized action and its ambivalences. Theory & Psychology, 19(2), 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354309103543Anyway, a book should be narrative, and I understand this.