relia, affordances, effectivities.

Hopefully tonight we’ll get to discuss three key constructs Moore invokes in his description of what it means to be technology literate. Consider the following quote, found on p. 4:

An artifact that stores knowledge is known as “relia” (Gibson 1979). In most cases, relia are manifested in technology. Relia has “affordances,” which are physical properties that influence how an artifact can be used. These affordances are inert until acted upon or set into motion by someone that has “effectivities.” Effectivities are someone’s capacity to complete an action (Gibson 1979). In other words, knowledge is both within the user and within the object, they have a symbiotic relationship (Karpatschof 1999). Memory is in our tools, as well as in our minds (Green 1991). The effective synthesis of both the internal and the external can be experienced as satisfying; it is an act of intelligence. The cooperation between effectivities and affordances is what amounts to skill in working with a technology (Bruner and Olson 1977).

[ Moore (2010) :: “Technology literacy: The extension of cognition” ]