Critical Affordance Analysis for Digital Methods: The Case of Gephi
Critical Affordance Analysis for Digital Methods: The Case of Gephi
Abstract
The following chapter addresses the need for “tool criticism” approaches in research designs that build on “digital methods,” and thus medium-specific methods, using the example of network exploration and mapping software Gephi. In order to perform tool criticism as an ongoing, active and reflective, situated and systematic approach, I develop the lens of “critical affordance analysis.” Drawing from and expanding the notion of “research affordances” I explore and inquire into the “account(‑)ability” of digital methods tools, on the one hand understood as offering and generating documentation of these tools’ workings, and on the other hand, as supporting the comprehensibility of their workings. In conclusion, I advocate approaching the design of the affordances, or action possibilities, of such knowledge instruments in epistemological terms.
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Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 Generic
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 Generic
Keywords:
Digital CultureDigital MethodGephiDigital Tool