Marlot Kuiper

212 Connective Routines 7.3 Artefacts’ affordances Artefacts possess different affordances that constrain how they can be read and used. I defined affordances as the actual and perceived possibilities for use 23 . Following Gibson (1977, 1979), I put the role of perception central. The architecture of the artefact limits and creates possibilities for use – paper simply can’t fly for example - but beyond that, the possibilities of what can be done with something, are unique to each individual and their situation. For example, a software system might actually afford the action to register clinical information, but if the actant that has to perform this action does not perceive this a possible use, it does not afford that performance for that actant in that situation. In general, the perception of an affordance should not be confused with the affordance itself. As I want to advance our understanding of how rule-embedded artefacts function as intermediaries of routines, I will take into account both the characteristics of the artefactual representation itself (material affordances), and the possibilities for artefact use in its environment (spatial affordances). I inductively added a third, temporal dimension to the analysis. 7.3.1 Material dimensions The material affordances refer to the material (or digital) properties of the artefact itself. The design of an artefact, affords different action possibilities. A checklist can for example be made out of paper, have a rectangular size and be foldable (its actual properties) and has a perceived suggestion of how it should be used (its perceived properties). Drawing from the ethnographic data, I will illustrate the material affordances of the artefactual arrangements in both hospitals. Plainsboro In Plainsboro, digitalization is at the core of the organisation’s strategy. In chapter 5, I already showed that despite professionals consistently register the performance of the checklist for the sake of performance measurement, as something they ‘have to do’, it is only loosely connected to what they actually do with the patient. Professionals ‘just tick off the boxes without further consideration of the items’. These activity patterns are fuelled by ostensive ideas about organisational control, as they feel that they are only registering for the 23 Chapter 3 extensively discusses the theories informing the research perspective of this study