Affordance vs. Value vs. Values vs. Utility
Another interesting little conversation with @amcunningham on what I meant when I said technology has no inherent value. I hope this clarifies, at least a little. For this I give you a low-technology example to illustrate the four concepts.
Imagine I place a plank of wood on the table in front of you.
The plank of wood is an example of a technology which, as it stands currently, has no value. It has a cost associated with it as it was purchased, but it is inherently valueless in its raw form. The wood has several affordances. It can be burnt, whittled, used as a doorstop, painted, used to break a window etc. Several values exist, your personal values may prevent you from burning it and your social values may prevent you from using it to smash a window. Now imagine you were looking to source a birthday present for a niece or nephew. If you were to whittle a toy car and paint the wood that would maximise the utility of the plank of wood. You are satisfied by being able to utilise the wood and now it has value as a birthday present. You have turned something from being valueless to being valuable.
Do these terms map to your own worldviews and mental models?
About Me
Hey there! Welcome to my very shiny tumblog. I write about things that interest me, particularly innovative applications of information technology or services in the health informatics domain. This includes, but is not limited to, "things" such as patient-centred health care delivery, Generation Y/Millennials, pervasive health, social media and networking, the Internet of Things, The Staying Healthy Pathway, and many others. Feel free to contribute, (dis)agree and share.
