Chapter 3: Theorizing the Mediating Role of Affordances Within the Terrain of Data Activism

This chapter explores the concept of affordances and its connection with the emergence of data activism. Grounded in existing theoretical frameworks, this chapter expands on the definitions of data activities to address the specific needs of this book by positioning affordances as a critical lens for understanding how data activism operates. In this chapter, affordances are seen as the designed properties and functionalities of technologies, which provide both the symbolic and the material insights into the materialities embedded within platforms. Drawing on established scholarship, this chapter argues that the affordances of data activists’ tools and applications can shape the actions and practices available to users within platforms. By focusing on platform affordances, this chapter highlights how activists leverage these properties to contest algorithmic control, challenge platform practices, and advocate for transparency in data practices. Ultimately, this chapter provides a nuanced understanding of how data activists navigate, exploit, and resist the affordances of technologies in their efforts to bring about change, while positioning affordances as central to both the theory and practice of data activism.