VII. Discussion
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A. Rethink | B. Engage | C. Adapt | D. Afford | E. Limit
D. Afford
Another example of tool-based invention influence is “afford,” or switching to new sets of tools that offer different options for working with pieces. As noted in the introduction, an example of a “afford”-type influence comes from RR3, shortly before the second submitted draft.
I was drafting the essay primarily in Word; the focal media elements existed as separate files, and I wasn’t able to view these elements in the context of the essay draft. Instead, I made a rough web version to get a sense of the project’s total structure in online form. Based on the affordances of a web environment rather than a Word-based layout, I was able to see the remediations and the source narratives in the same frame for the first time. This shift was significant because I had been concerned that my remediations might be seen as appropriating or overshadowing the voice and story of the source narrator. This synthesized perspective helped me conceptualize the media elements (source narratives and remediations) as complementary, with one building off the other, versus as competing (as they had seemed when viewed as separate files), with one running the risk of replacing or erasing key aspects of the other. Similar to a “rethink”-type influence, inventive negotiation with the tools led to new understandings about the relationship between pieces; however, in this case, the insight came from switching to a new set of tools and software with different affordances for juxtaposing the pieces entirely, rather than working with a different strategy for juxtaposing pieces in the same software environment.
Additionally, an “afford”-type influence emerged in Lauer’s published Inventio narrative.
Her narrative describes her webtext’s journey across many different digital environments as she designed it first in Prezi, then in Flash, and finally in HTML/CSS. Both Prezi and Flash offered helpful resources for developing her project’s digital interface; however, both tools had significant drawbacks for trying to host a project with numerous audio files within her imagined user interface. With her switch to HTML/CSS, however, she was able to successfully integrate all her audio components, and additionally reimagined her total interface design in a way that evoked but was not constrained by her initial Prezi-based images and navigation. Lauer’s final choice in tools gave her the resources she needed to realize her project in a web environment, even as these tools opened up new possibilities for her webtext’s overall design.
The “afford” invention influence thus characterizes tool-based influenced that lead to working with a new set of tools; when the initial software does not work for the composer’s purposes, this gap motivates a shift to a new editing tool that opens up new possibilities for inscape design due to a different set of affordances.
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