Open AccessConceptualizing the Experiential Affordances of Watching Online TV
Author(s) -
Marika Lüders,
Vilde Schanke Sundet
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
television and new media
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.252
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1552-8316
pISSN - 1527-4764
DOI - 10.1177/15274764211010943
Subject(s) - affordance , experiential learning , situated , action (physics) , agency (philosophy) , multimedia , computer science , advertising , psychology , sociology , human–computer interaction , business , artificial intelligence , social science , physics , mathematics education , quantum mechanics
This article investigates the experiential affordances of watching online TV as outcomes of the material underpinnings of online TV and the actions taken by viewers. Potential experiential changes derive from how online TV services can be considered libraries of content affording self-scheduling action possibilities. Such changes need to be situated in the slow-to-change conditions of television viewing. We draw on a qualitative study of how viewers respond to the action possibilities and constraints of online TV services. We argue that potentials for individualized viewing are counterbalanced by television viewing as a social activity. Next, self-scheduling ties in with viewing as a deliberate action, appropriated to create experiences where attentiveness is tailored to what is narratively required. Finally, flow schedules are replaced with programed paths constraining the agency of viewers.