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. :-)