Affordance

"J.J.Gibson a perceptual psychologist coined the term 'affordance' to refer to the particular arrangement of objects in the environment and to estimate the actions allowed by an object.... affordances do not have to be visible. known, or even desirable to affect behaviour." (Christiansen & Townsend,2004, p.255)
Affordance includes aspects such as communication, describing how I am feeling while doing my scrapbooking. Connection is another area and looks at the action properties, what is happening during the session. Moral Properties or the good and bad aspects of the session are the last area we will look at.

Communication:

Hagedorn (2000) states that  "communication can be either verbal or non-verbal... and that touch is one of the first means of communication which humans experience, and it remains deeply significant throughout life."This explains why when I went to my friend’s place this week for a scrapbooking session, it was so great because it meant, we could use each other’s equipment, and share ideas. We had lots of fun, and joked around talking about past memories, seen in the photos we were using. I always feel happy and excited about pages I’m going to create, but I did feel a little flustered getting all my equipment organized to take, and then having to carry it all into my friends place, and set it up on the table, making sure I didn’t take up too much space. I was on one side of the table, and Joan was on the other with all the equipment in the middle, so it was more accessible for us both. At the end of our 6 hours scrapbooking, I had achieved eight cool pages, and was looking forward to our next session.

Connection:

Working with my friend was great, and it ment we developed a really strong friendship connection as we swapped ideas and lifestories, while helping each other, consequently achieving more pages. Working with Joan, meant we could rehash old memories, and reminisce together. Being able to borrow each other’s equipment was great, but was difficult as, I didn’t want to mess up Joan’s lounge, or take up too much of her space, so couldn’t spread out as I would normally at home, and was very self-conscious of this all day. 

Spending the day scrapbooking lead to some very creative pages designed, because we both came up with ideas and used trial and error to emphasise page layouts better.

Through participating in scrapbooking with my friend Joan, and hearing of other people, including my Aunties and cousins who are also keen scrapbookers it is clear to see that we are all connected to a cultural group of people, who enjoy showing off their, tradionally acquired crafting skills, which have been handed down from generation to generation through doing scrapbooking. Hopkins & Smith (1983) wrote: "It is through our activities that we are connected with life and with other human beings.  Through the activities in which we engage, we learn about the world, test our knowledge, practise skills, express our feelings, experience pleasure, take care of our needs for survival, develop competence, and achieve mastery over our destinies." (p.296).  When I think about crafting people I think it is easy to see that there is some very deep connections with the past, and occupations that have been handed down from each generation, and that will be carried on into the future.
Working at Joan’s, meant that my flatmates did not have to cope with my equipment and pages everywhere, so did not get grumpy with me, and Joan's son was away for the weekend. :-)

Good and bad moral properties:

I don’t believe scrapbooking has any bad properties, although I am a bit of a perfectionist, so can get frustrated when a page doesn’t look the way I want it to. As a result, a few times I have actually done my pages twice. This has positives though, because when my scrapbook is finished it will look AMAZING.

"The values we live by are worth more when we pass them on...." 

 foundations for a better life. N.p.: organized memories, 2006. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. <http://www.scrapbooking.com/quotes/doc/34233/>.

In terms of good properties, scrapbooking allows me to leave a legacy for the next generation and shows off some important events that happened in my life. It is so rewarding sharing my life experiences through my scrapbooks with people.

Wow abseiling down the Mahinerang Dam, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't have proof here in my scrapbook. What an AMAZING experience it was to do.

Scrapbooking is a great role-modelling tool, showing others that you can do things while watching television, and you do not have to sit staring at the screen and can achieve something worthwhile as well.

Scrapbooking is a good way to look back on life, it makes me realise how blessed my life has been in so many areas, even when it did not feel like it. 

The Bridge exercise at The Berwick Outdoor Experience camp.

What an experience, but I survived :-)

Ergonomics of Scrapbooking

Hi again, today’s blog is about the ergonomic factors of scrapbooking. Caulton and Dickson (2007) say that when thinking about 'ergonomics' you are "constantly making slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt it to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose."

The factors that affect a persons ability to participate in occupations can be divided into three groups:
Person -  Crepeau,Cohn, & Schell (2009,p.436) State a person is defined as "A unique and holistic view of the person acknowledges the mind, body, and spirit. Variables associated with the person include values and interests, skills and abilities, and life experience."
Occupation -  Kielhofner (1995,p. 21) defines occupation as" The dominant activity of human beings that includes serious, productive pursuits and playful, creative and festive behaviours. It is the result of evolutionary processess culminating in biological and social need for both playful and productive activity."
Environmental -  Christiansen & Baum (2005,p.545) State environment  is "The external social and physical conditions or factors that have the potential to influence an individual."
When considering the ergonomics of scrapbooking, it is important to think about the person-occupation-environmental factors, which will make it more meaningful.

Person:

For me scrapbooking is something I love, and set time aside to do each week. Scrapbooking allows you to design a page using your photos, memorabilia, and other resources to decorate it. The degree of intricacy depends on what you are trying to portray through your page.
Below are some examples of pages I have scrapbooked, and are all very unique and of different levels of intricacy.

The Berwick Ooutdoor experience camp pamphlet showing everything you take part in while on camp.

This was the challenging obstacle course.

This is from another scrapbook album of my trip to Australia. These photos are of when we spent the day at the Australia zoo.

We are about to go down the Yarra River, in Melbourne.

The proud parents with my little nephew Toby.

 

Having the cognitive ability to design a page layout, and then the physical ability to use scissors, or other equipment to achieve your design are the only skills necessary.

Scrapbooking is not an energetic occupation, but the ability to sit for lengths of time is important depending on how many pages you want to do.

The amount I spend on scrapbooking depends on my budget, but it is something I have done for years, so have built up many resources to use.

Activity:

Scrapbooking is a way of relaxing, de-stressing, and gaining more self worth as it allows me to use my natural crafting abilities, which I know are great to show off my memories in an attractive style.

The time it takes to do each page depends on the style, and layout used.

The equipment can range from cheap to more expensive, it just depends how much you want to pay?

Scrapbooking is something I can do while achieving something else, such as talking with people around me, watching tv, or listening to the radio.

Environment:

I do scrapbooking in the lounge, but it can be done in any room inside, that has a table to work on with enough space for me to layout all my equipment, and the page I am working on. that has a table to use, such as kitchen, lounge, bedroom, or you could go to a friend’s place to work on it together. Another good factor is that there is plenty of light to see clearly, and windows to open, to get rid of glue fumes.

Scrapbooking can be done in a busy environment, as long as people don’t mind drying pages spread around. 

If I had my dream home, this room would be in it, as it has ample space for scrapbooking, with a BIG desk, plenty of light and room for spreading out all my scrapbooking equipment. It looks like an AMAZINGLY fun room to be working in. :-)

  

My scrapbooking history

Hi, my first blog is all about my past experience of scrapbooking. When I think about my experience of scrapbooking, it started in primary school, when I would stick pictures – usually of animals I loved, or newspaper clippings we had to put in our school scrapbooks. I remember doing this type of scrapbooking right throughout my schooling years, although not so much in secondary school.

Scrapbooking is something I have been doing in some form all my life. When I finished secondary school scrapbooking for me was in the form of a normal old photography album, with photos of special moments or occasions that occurred. 

I am a crafter at heart, and saw a scrapbooking course, so went and learnt, many different styles of scrapbooking to display my treasured photos and memorabilia. I was hooked and wanted to do more. My first scrapbook was of, The Berwick outdoor experience camp which changed my life.

This was me on the Mahinerangi Dam wall, I did it. :-)

So it’s cool, having a scrapbook of my experience, to go back through, when I am not feeling so confident, because it shows, I can do anything – even abseil down a dam, and I have the scrapbook album to prove it. 
"A memory is a way of holding onto things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose."
Kimberly,Ann.B. N.p.: The Wonder Years,n.d. N. pag.Web. 4 Oct.2011. <http://www.scrapbooking.com/quotes/doc>.

 For me scrapbooking is great. I love it because I find it very relaxing and therapeutic designing and laying out pages that show my photographed memories in a safe way that is going to keep people looking at them for hours.

Some practical considerations about scrapbooking are that you need plenty of room, so you can spread out all your equipment and have enough room to work. Scrapbooking can be as cheap or expensive as you like depending on your budget.

Scrapbooking could be used as an Occupational Therapy process for assessing peoples cognitive processing, and physical abilities, such as fine motor body functions.