Encoding and decoding affordances: Stuart Hall and interactive media technologies

Abstract

This essay addresses how digital and interactive media scholars might adapt the concept of affordances in relation to Stuart Hall’s canonical ‘Encoding/Decoding’ model to better account for how certain types of interactivity are promoted or discouraged by new technologies and platforms. In particular, Shaw looks at how the perceptible, hidden, and false affordances of designed objects intersect with Hall’s dominant/hegemonic, negotiated, and oppositional reading positions. Merging these theories allows scholars to approach the political implications of audience activities with these technologies in new and more nuanced ways.