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 :-)